Uber and Lyft drivers are creating artificial surge pricing in Washington, DC to drive up fares. They insist this is necessary to “flight back” against years of declining pay.
Here’s how the trick goes down. The lot outside Reagan National Airport fills up with as many as 150 drivers, some who have been waiting for hours for the evening rush. These drivers told ABC affiliate WJLA Uber does not pay them enough, forcing them to take matters into their own hands:
Uber doesn’t pay us enough, what the company is doing is defrauding all these people by taking 35-40 percent. They are taking all this money because there’s no system of accountability.
One driver explains how the game works:
All the airplanes we know when they land. So five minutes before, we turn all our apps off all of us at the same time. All of us we turn our apps off. They surge, $10, $12, sometimes $19. Then we turn our app on. Everyone will get the surge.
But it takes coordination to pull this off. All drivers must essentially synchronize going offline. That’s where working closely is required for surge pricing. One driver explained:
Someone is standing by that corner. I stand by this corner and the other one stands at this corner and we say turn the app off and then go online.
As all the apps shut down, one person monitors Uber to check on surge pricing. Usually the surge cutoff is about $13. Once that is reached, everyone turns their apps back on at once, with all drivers locking in the surge pricing.
So does everyone play along?
Yes 100 percent. Everyone do it. Everyone knows it’s not worth it. They know if they take a ride from here without surge, without pumping the surge up, it’s not worth it.
Lyft + Uber Respond
Asked to respond, Lyft told ABC:
Lyft takes any allegations of fraudulent behavior very seriously as it violates our community guidelines and can lead to deactivation from the Lyft platform.
Lyft drivers’ hourly earnings have increased 7% over the last two years, and they have earned more than $14B since we launched. Over 75% drive less than 10 hours a week to supplement existing jobs. On average, Lyft drivers earn over $20 per hour. We know that access to flexible, extra income makes a big difference for millions of people, and we’re constantly working to improve how we can best serve our driver community.
Uber added:
At Uber, we work to ensure the reliability of our service for our riders and drivers. This behavior is neither widespread or permissible on the uber platform, and we have technical safeguards in place to help prevent it from happening.
CONCLUSION
I am not surprised at all by this news, as I’ve written about the horrible service on Uber in DC the past. Drivers clearly hate Uber/Lyft…that much is clear. But rigging the system does not strike me as a way to engender the support of riders and the public at large. I’m certainly not amused…
> Read More: Uber Annoys in Washington, DC
image: Uber
DC is expensive so I don’t blame the drivers.
Good for them.
Why cities won’t take the initiative to create effective, competing apps around their municipally licensed, regulated, insured taxi fleets baffles me. Beat Uber and Lyft at their own game.
Probablu because US taxis suck, app or not.
Uber isn’t supposed to be reliable public transportation, but rather drivers working as independent contractors trying to support their families and pay their bills. Not sure why any driver would give rides without surge pricing in Washington DC as the rates make it difficult to earn a living.
How dare Uber and Lyft force these poor victims to drive their cars around for $20 and hour! This slavery must stop! If it gets any worse these poor souls might actually have to go spend their time acquiring real job skills that could result in their time being worth more than that of unskilled labor.
$20 an hour. LOL What a joke.
Even if that were a consistent pay rate (it’s not), that does not account for the numerous expenses which are borne by the driver. Including gasoline, maintenance, upkeep, wear and tear on our vehicles. (My own car is being rattled to death on the hideously torn up pot hole ridden streets of Buffalo and Western NY).
And we get ZERO employer benefits. We’re “independent contractors” according to Uber. They owe us nothing. The founders are now billionaires and the executives millionaires.
It was calculated that after expenses Uber drivers make well below minimum wage. Though it’s not immediately visible to the driver.
Also, I have a very high driver rating of 4.95 and I’d say less than 10% of passengers tip. (Something commonly done for Taxi drivers).
The same with UberEats if done. Take the king of food delivery, pizza. I’ve always tipped pizza delivery people and everyone I talk to tips their pizza delivery. I had a rider who delivers pizza and he said nearly everyone tips him.
Because I keep saying I’ll never do it again, I’ve done only about 20 UberEats deliveries (which often involves waiting in a slow drive through at a fast food restaurant – I drive late at night – for which we don’t get paid wait time.) The fee we receive is low (remember Uber is taking up to 40% of what you pay) and NOBODY has ever tipped me for delivering their Mcnuggets.
The new normal for Uber taxi and UberEats food delivery is tipping isn’t done, even while we earn less and have greater expenses than a Taxi driver. I often wonder what would happen if I delivered a pizza via UberEats. Would I THEN be tipped?
Don’t buy into Uber and Lyft’s b.s. Drivers (average people who are clearly desperate if they keep driving for them) are being severely taken advantage of by these companies (and passengers – That cheap fare you’re paying is coming out of the driver’s hide).
Good for the drivers. They are independent contractors and should be able to work whenever they want. Uber/Lyft definitely have them trapped making barely minimum wage. Sadly it makes perfect economic sense to exploit the workers especially when the competition is doing so.
I drove 75 rides to get the sign up bonus and then quit.
Glen, out of all due respect, why do you keep working for Uber if you are earning less than minimum wage and not receiving benefits?
Uber in DC is generally not great (although I have had some excellent drivers), but especially from Reagan National has been appalling and expensive for a while now…. as a frequent visitor (family there) I now just take a city taxi heading into town – waiting a few mins in line is better than using Uber.
From Dulles I have been using Blacklane or just booking private limo services for the transfer. Avoid Uber coming from the metro D.C. airports.
UBER from JFK has become insanely expensive: $260 dollars to my friend’s city in central NJ! Cheaper to rent a car for the week.
That’s horrible! It cost me that much to take Uber from EWR to Washington, DC!!
I’m not surprised. This is the same city where, 15-20 years ago, taxis were paid based on the number of delineated regions on a map they drove through. Taxi drivers would deliberately adjust their path to cut through as many of these regions as possible.
Frankly, DC traffic is so bad that I find the metro gets me to my hotel faster.
I had an Uber driver at LAX tell me they do the same thing there. I would not believe Uber’s claim of technical safeguards…
Lyft and Uber are the biggest scams of companies that take advantage of both their drivers AND THEIR CUSTOMERS. They deserve this. They often take over 50% of the fare, (Screwing the customer over as well) and drivers often barely cover the cost of depreciation. Then when drivers gather to beat uber and lyft at their own games, they cry like little bitches when their own system gets used against them. As a very experienced driver, we need to take these scamish low life companies down. They are destroying the transportation economy
AND RIDERS THIS AFFECTS YOU BECAUSE IF LYFT AND UBER CAN CHARGE YOU 300% MORE – THEY WILL.