this post was submitted on 02 Aug 2023
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Uber CEO balks after a reporter tells him the cost of his 2.9-mile Uber ride: 'Oh my God. Wow.'::undefined

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[–] ArtVandelay 16 points 1 year ago (1 children)

These prices are set via algorithm, and time of day seems to be a huge part of it. My 2.5 mile trip in Washington DC on a Thursday morning at 7:30 was $55.

[–] Hackerman_uwu 41 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (2 children)

There was speculation that the algo takes several features into account not just time. Things like battery life, distance from frequent locations, etc. So for instance: profile is a young lady, she is on 10% battery and is several miles from home at an entertainment hub like a nightclub/concert so jack the fare up cos she’ll take it regardless, type stuff.

I used to have a very unreliable Jeep that would break down for weeks at a time. I bit the bullet and ubered to work. I have screenshots showing the fare climbing over the course of a week to six times the original price for the same trip as the algo learned that I needed to work and did not have a car.

[–] Tangent5280 5 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Jesus Christ that's horrible. We'll need to now make something like virtualbox for Android to isolate these shitty ass apps from knowing system details and shit.

EDIT: We all need to go check our uber transactions to see if cost per ride corresponded to life events.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Wouldn't have a cab costed the same every day? I'm curious as to how that would compare.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

If they are not in a city in the US, probably not. The nearest cab company is 2 towns/cities away from me.