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Comment by dana0550 | Hacker News Reader

I'm a heavy Uber user and I even sold my car about a year ago because I no longer needed. I use it exclusively for my trips around San Francisco and the East Bay. I've noticed recently (past ~1-2 months) there is always surge pricing. I wonder if this has to do with drivers not being paid enough or if they internally redefined what surge means.

Either way I like Uber but I just don't understand how there is always surge pricing. This is still has not deterred me from using it but still I wonder...

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http://whatsthefare.com is pretty helpful. Have it bookmarked on my phone and check it before using either Uber or Lyft. They used to be able to get the surge from Uber, but it's an estimate now. Probably got blocked from Uber is my guess.

Shameless plug, but I put together http://www.Ryder.io for checking prices across Uber/Lyft/Sidecar/Summon. Ended up being very similar to whatsthefare

You don't have to be royal to Uber. Always check prices before ordering. Here you can see prices from all major Uber-like companies: http://uphail.com/

Is it a real-time check, which would include surge pricing, or just a calculation based on carriers' published rates?

There's an app called Surge Protector: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/id925613132

Also, http://whatsthefare.com/

Read their blog, it's pretty interesting. Fred Wilson also discusses the findings here: http://avc.com/2014/10/the-cost-of-loyalty/

Surge multiplier is currently 1.8x in midtown Manhattan. I can see cabs available with no problem (even if I just switch to uberT, it shows about 10 cabs in the area, which don't 'surge'.)

On a related note, whenever I see the surge pricing, I just see a failure of Uber to recruit enough drivers to meet demand. I don't view it as the dynamic pricing libertarian wonderland that Uber does. I also see the surge in effect almost every time I open Uber, so I pretty much never do unless I'm in a dysfunctional city (cough SF cough) and there's not another choice.

I think that in the long run, their continued insistence to not clear the market and to instead be able to show lots of empty cars driving around trolling for 3x+ fares through surge pricing is going to make public opinion quite negative among the general public.

Sounds like summer ended and everyone returned to work increasing demand and thus surge pricing (best guess) Then you had Oracle World and Dreamforce too.

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