“Uber prices in the Central Business District of Sydney, Australia, jumped for a brief period on Monday as people tried to flee the scene of a hostage crisis. After quickly receiving loud criticism on social media for the high prices, the company announced it would provide free trips to people in the area.
About three hours after news broke about the hostage situation, a tweet from the Uber Sydney Twitter account explained that the higher fares were meant to give drivers the incentive to pick up passengers in the area.”*
Cenk Uygur (http://www.twitter.com/cenkuygur) and Ana Kasparian (http://www.twitter.com/AnaKasparian) discuss.
*Read more here from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/12/15/uber-sydney-surge-pricing_n_6325026.html
Comments
How come we don’t have people complaining for other services with volatile prices? Uber’s surge pricing is an automated process that just rises with demand. Much like airlines. No one would complain if LAX shut down for a day and suddenly Burbank had more expensive flights. Uber does plenty wrong, but surge prices aren’t one of them.