Reply to I am a DC uberX driver since 2013 and have SEEN IT ALL...so please, AMA

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]NP here. I've only used Uber a few times. Yesterday morning ~ 6:45/7am we took an Uber XL to Dulles. My husband, new to uber, didn't realize the implications of a 1.9 surge and we paid nearly $130 to get from Logan circle to Dulles (a ~$70 cab). Painful lesson learned, but help me understand surge- why early Sat morning? I understand rush hours, etc...

Best AMA thread I've read. You are a great writer & seem like a decent and interesting guy. Thanks. [/quote]

Well, first thing...DC is an early-bird kind of town every day of the week.  The Beltway, 395, Dulles Toll Road, 295, and 66 are essentially super-speedways before traffic gets heavy at 6am and are filled with ubers, taxicabs, and the early work crowd.  Both National and Dulles are slammed with departures daily from 5-9am.  75% of my trips in the morning are either to an airport or Union Station. This is what surge looks like from the driver's app right now at 5:10am Monday up in South Arlington:

[img]http://i.imgur.com/U5uPfqE.jpg[/img]

DC is currently scattered between 1.5-2x. This is business as usual, and will be even busier than normal today since this was a holiday weekend prior with lots of visiting family leaving out, not to mention the cherry blossoms too.  There are 6,000,000 people living within 20 miles of the Capitol along with ~30,000 visitors nightly in hotels.  A huge portion of these folks have no access to a car, and many of those are metro inaccessible too.  DC is a top-5 uber city, along with SF, LA, Chicago, and Boston.  It's busy here all the time and this brings on surge pricing.  Someone needs a ride to somewhere 24/7.  Sorry about your high fare, but it's not too bad, and hopefully it was a little better ride than a taxicab because you mentioned you had 3 kids with you in that other post.

Surge is sporadic, but comes and goes.  Try to wait it out if you have the time to spare.  Now don't give your husband a hard time over this, but I promise you, he breezed right thru this notice/accept screen:

[img]http://i.imgur.com/LbClYun.jpg[/img]

Uber will ALWAYS notify you of surge pricing and ask you to accept it.  In fact, if the surge is really high (4x+) the app will force you to type in the current surge multiplier and accept before you can even request a ride.

[u][b]HOW TO BEAT SURGE PRICING:[/u][/b]
1-Use that little button in the pic above "NOTIFY ME WHEN SURGE DROPS".  It works.
2-Use Lyft instead.  Sometimes you get lucky and lyft won't be primetime pricing in the same spot that uber is surging.
3-Go for a walk towards your destination or at least away from the "action" and keep trying.  Surge zones are set up in little honeycomb shapes all over the map that are about a quarter-mile wide.  You'll eventually walk out of one and into another.
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