Taxi Driver Online

'£140 from Leeds to Wakefield': Leeds Uber prices rocket - this is why

https://www.yorkshireeveningpost.co.uk/ ... 1-10032747

Leeds taxi customers have been noticing prices for their journeys rocket over the past few weeks.

Trips that normally seem affordable have risen by three or four times.

Prices seemed to peak on Saturday night (29), with one woman on Twitter saying Uber were charging £140 from Leeds to Wakefield. [about 12 miles according to Google maps]

Another woman said she paid £47 for a taxi from Leeds to Horsforth [six miles], while a third paid £55 from Leeds to Bramley [also around six miles].

"Last time I'll ever use Uber," she wrote.

The two-mile journey from Burley to Merrion Street was quoted as at least £20.

Another disgruntled customer on Wednesday evening said his journey from Leeds Station, usually costing £7, had increased to £28.

It's all down to Uber's surge pricing, which increases prices if there is too much demand and too few cars in the area at any one time.

And a Leeds Uber driver said the recent increase in surge journeys was down to two factors - the return of students to Leeds and the wet weather.

"It's not been like his until recently," he said. "It is with all the students coming back, there is so much more demand.

"And the weather means people aren't wanting to walk."

He said the surge multiplier on Saturday reached 4.4.

"The highest I have ever seen is 4.9," he added.

Customers are warned via the app when a surge is in place. A number appears, which is what your typical fare will be multiplied by.

The driver said midweek evenings had also seen surges, with a 3.4 multiplier on Monday night when the rain was heavy.

Other more established Leeds-based taxi firms do not use surge pricing, but many customers do choose to cough up if it means a taxi arriving more quickly at the touch of a button.

An Uber spokeswoman said: "The Uber app uses dynamic pricing to make sure that people can always get a car when they need it.

"When a large number of people in a specific area are booking a trip at the same time and there aren't enough available cars, fares automatically rise to encourage more drivers to go to the busy area.

"Users will always see a fare estimate in advance so they have the choice to book a car, share the trip with others or wait until fares go down.”

aw diddums are those yorkshire men and women being made to open their wallets

Now here's an idea walk to a taxi rank and get a hackney which doesn't charge 5x surge

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lack of modern legislation is the iceberg sinking the titanic of the transport sector

Some of them do here!

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Grandad,

I bet it's not.

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IDFIMH

Our last unmet demand survey (which the council completely ignored and refused to restrict plate numbers) had an average waiting time of FIVE seconds for Hackney customers waiting at ranks m.

Students just love em,let them have em!.

Can't work out why students when using traditional taxi/PH services want to scrimp and scrape to the last penny, yet when they use Uber they are quite content to be surged.

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IDFIMH

Their app has a couple of features that students really like: guaranteed card payment, knowing exactly when it'll arrive and the ability to split the fare between them automatically.

Uber themselves are crap, but the industry needs to figure out an answer to the stuff that Uber does actually do well at.

Their app is no different to the many apps used by many firms.

The one I use even has surge facilities should the operator choose to use that function.

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IDFIMH

because it's NOT REAL MONEY it's figures on a computer game on their phone

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lack of modern legislation is the iceberg sinking the titanic of the transport sector

so you need to let the students know Hackneys available at all times and no surge !!

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lack of modern legislation is the iceberg sinking the titanic of the transport sector