Due to the horrible Martin Place siege today, Uber Sydney has issued the following statement on Twitter:
Uber Sydney trips from CBD will be free for riders. Higher rates are still in place to encourage drivers to get into the CBD.
The Uber app is available on the Apple Store, Google Play and Windows Store
Stay safe for all those affected!
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positive after they got battered for raising the price…..
So true. Their surge pricing is BS. Tried to get out of Sydney City a few weekends ago on a Friday night, 3.3x surge pricing. No wait for a cab and standard cab price. Such a rip.
Meh. Supply and demand - if you don't want to pay for it, catch an alternate service. Otherwise, there are people that are happy to do so to get quick travel. I took a cab from the city out to the suburbs at 2.6x surge pricing @ $180 for the trip - who cares, it was my choice and I balanced it between convenience and/or waiting for alternate means of transport.
$180 cab trip? This is OzBargain you know. I think you missed the point of my comment - Uber was supposed to be cheaper than Cabs - when it's more than double the price what's the point?
If that's true people are either stupid, or uber are offering some other value proposition, either way the market will sort them out
No it wasn't meant to be cheaper, it was meant to be a quality alternative.
UberX, the cheaper option came after lux and black which are both upmarket compared to cabs.
I think their surge pricing was a system automated response to higher demand. Id like to think that they didnt actively raise the price in response to this
Nope, they manually tweeted about the surge pricing and said it was because of the events in Martin Place. Only after it became a PR disaster did they make the trips free.
Was it a tweet explaining surge pricing or saying they explicitly set the surge on because of the events. If it was the latter, then for shame and i take back my comment.
positive move to get free advertising from an awful situation. not nice at all.
Well to be brutally honest, at the end the day a business is a business and money-wise, this can be broken down and be seen in one of two ways:
1) They are literally paying for us to get home from Sydney CBD - i.e. they are losing money
2) They are literally paying for us to get home from Sydney CBD - i.e. they are losing money in the short-term, but they see this as an "investment" for their marketing.
Also, two other perspectives:
1) They are taking advantage of a bad situation and marketing off it
2) They are doing a good deed by paying for rides home
Technically I guess they are doing both. I think it's a win-win. I see nothing wrong with what they are doing.
so it really was 1/ They are taking advantage of a bad situation and profiteering off it, that failed so they marketed instead.
uhh, no? They are continuing to pay the drivers the rate they would get from the surge pricing to encourage more of them to go there to drive people out. It's also free for people looking to get out too. Pretty much a win-win for the drivers and customers.
They initially surged the prices.
Then after realising they would/did get negative press decided to cover the cost and offer it free.
From what i understand the network automatically adapted to the immediate increase in requests and triggered the surge pricing mechanism which is designed to encourage more drivers to get out and drive when there is higher demand. This is where the bad publicity would have then come from.
As explained, its automated system that does it when there is bigger demand for uber cars in the area and is to encourage more drivers to cover the area.
@codeworxsteve: nah, they knew about the surge pricing and only wore the cost after a backlash. This was their initial tweet:
If they really wanted to help, they'd switch to ride-sharing and fill the cars with people going the same way.
Screw Uber, the free price came 40 mins after they 4x prices and received negative feedback.
As pointed out above, the increase was due to their algorithmic surge pricing mechanism. This is in place to urge drivers to help out in peak situations. Uber will continue to pay drivers their surge prices but it's free for the end user. Great move on Uber's part.
No, willoz is right. They knew about the surge pricing and changed it after the backlash. This is their initial tweet bragging about it:
Not sure if you read the tweet but I wouldn't call that "bragging". There was backlash because people fail to understand how surge pricing and the Uber model works in general. The price increase does indeed cost more for the end-user, but it's also to push MORE drivers in coming into a potentially dangerous area to pick up more people.
Think of it as hardship compensation.
And are also offering to pay back the people who were charged at the surge rate.
Oh that's nice, makes sense now.
Another case study of how computers can't ever truly replace humans nor should they.
does anyone know the radius outside the CBD this extends?
Good idea by Uber
This free advertising will cover the cost of the free trips. Smart move there.
Since there's a whole bunch of comments that seem to have this the wrong way around, thought I'd post this top level - Uber's surge pricing is automatic… but they acknowledged prices going up on Twitter, only offering free rides after a backlash.
https://twitter.com/Uber_Sydney/status/544319760809222144
I believe in credit where credit's due and shit but they definitely tried to (profanity) us first.
Has anyone actually used an Uber cab to get out of the city this arvo/evening? Are there any available?
got home from CBD in Uber Black earlier. The ride was nice for the nothing that I'm paying for…
An illegal service made free doesn't make it better
not sure if its illegal but seems they are a bad practice going by news around the world.
Free rides out of the CBD, they start charging you right outside?
i read earlier up to $200 one way fare but they updated that to *Maximum one trip per person.
Took a train to the CBD just to go home in an Uber Black … Awesomeness … Thanks OP
dislike
why?
Train in.
Lambo out.
Check your bill afterwards.
For some reason, the taxi picked me up from wynyard station and not sure what happened but tracking activated the phone only from haymarket…
All up, got charged $34.
Sent an email to Uber got refund.
Thanks Uber.
In my experience, their customer service is fantastic.
not sure why uber is allowed to be posted here being illegal
Positive gesture, brilliant PR move. Even if people do not use the service they will tend to remember the 'We are all in this together' sentiment.
Over to you, taxi industry…