By Uber have just rolled out their UberEvents service nationwide in the USA, which means companies or hosts of events can now pre-pay for the Uber rides of others. You are able to do this by allocating a set amount of money per ride, or agreeing with Uber beforehand on a geographical restriction, such as a mile away from the pick-up location. It works via the use of a code, which you give to the person requiring a lift.
I can see this new sector of the Uber experience being popular in the States and also here when it gets introduced – especially at this time of year, when managers are thinking about their Christmas parties. The UberEvents service leads to managers knowing their staff got home safely, staff being happy because they got a free ride home, and Uber drivers being pleased because not only did they get the custom, but they got advance notice of it too.
If a pre-paid spending limit is set and not reached, you only pay the amount the ride cost, and if someone doesn’t use their ride, you won’t get charged for that either. This all sounds great, and something worth looking into, however my reservations come in when I consider a recent experience with Uber. Namely, their surge pricing.
Surge pricing
I was recently in a situation where I needed to leave work in the afternoon to collect my newly MOT’d car from the garage. I realised that catching a bus wasn’t an option, as by the time I arrived, the garage would have been closed. Then I thought, ‘Uber!’ I loaded up the app, and I saw there were several drivers sat around the local area, waiting for customers. So, I typed in my destination, and up popped a message, informing me that the fare would be 20% more than usual, and would this be ok? This is referred to by Uber as ‘surge pricing’. In small type underneath, it said the price would change again in 3 minutes, so I closed the app and returned three minutes later (because no true Yorkshire man would agree to pay more unless he really, really had to) to find the price had increased to a shocking 40% more than usual!
On Uber’s website, they explain this ‘surge pricing’ as something they do occasionally to encourage more drivers to get out on the roads when they are experiencing high demand. Conversely, when I needed a ride, there were certainly several cars available locally, and they hadn’t moved anywhere in the three minutes between me first opening the app and opening it the next time to find the price had surged… again.
This experience makes me doubt the reliability of UberEvents before I’ve even experienced it. After all, Uber is, at heart, an on-demand service. This is where its success lies. Can it handle pre-booking, like a regular taxi service? Will enough Uber drivers be working, or will surge pricing still occur, leaving a staff member stranded half way home after their Christmas do? I think I’ll let someone else test it out first when it gets rolled out here. And for the record, I picked my car up from the garage the next day in the end.