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Though isn't the popularity of Uber due to it being 'better' than the other option, i.e. a conventional taxi??? Otherwise why choose Uber.

Taken through another lens. Hydro rates in Ontario are set up to charge more during peak periods (higher demand) so why are people so up in arms about this. Is this not the same as Uber raising prices during high demand, even the knowing the cost up front, hydro does promote using electricity during off peak periods and advertises the costs before you use it.
 
Woodbridge_Heights said:
Though isn't the popularity of Uber due to it being 'better' than the other option, i.e. a conventional taxi??? Otherwise why choose Uber.

Taken through another lens. Hydro rates in Ontario are set up to charge more during peak periods (higher demand) so why are people so up in arms about this. Is this not the same as Uber raising prices during high demand, even the knowing the cost up front, hydro does promote using electricity during off peak periods and advertises the costs before you use it.
Click to expand...

I'm not sure what you're trying to say/ask through that analogy.
 
Woodbridge_Heights said:
Though isn't the popularity of Uber due to it being 'better' than the other option, i.e. a conventional taxi??? Otherwise why choose Uber.

Taken through another lens. Hydro rates in Ontario are set up to charge more during peak periods (higher demand) so why are people so up in arms about this. Is this not the same as Uber raising prices during high demand, even the knowing the cost up front, hydro does promote using electricity during off peak periods and advertises the costs before you use it.
Click to expand...
not a perfect analogy.....with hydro use, there are things you can do to shift your consumption to cheaper times (set timers on dishwashers, etc) but with Uber you want to to travel when you need to travel.....it is much harder to shift your NYE party to November 14 than it is to do your laundry off peak.
 
PinkLucy said:
I didn't say it was better or worse, or a blessing. All I'm saying is that surge pricing isn't a surprise, and I'm tired of the media running these stories all the time as if surge pricing is new or hidden or something. You make a choice when you use Uber during peak times to accept surge pricing. Don't cry me a river when your bill is horrendous. The issue of surge pricing in itself is a different issue than trying to make out like it's a surprise.
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It is consumer journalism...that's all. It is the "big bad corp" issue of the day. Just as the huge data bills people got for watching Netflix while on vacation were for a while. The phone companies did not keep it a secret that data roaming charges were high....they would be happy to tell you the cost per MB if you asked them and were even willing to pre-sell packages that lowered the price....but they were publicly chastised on a regular basis when Sally or Bob came back from vacation and were upset about their $1500 phone bill.

I agree it is a buyer beware situation....but that won't stop the media from facilitating this sort of "they gouged me" moaning to the press.
 
TOareaFan said:
I agree it is a buyer beware situation....but that won't stop the media from facilitating this sort of "they gouged me" moaning to the press.
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I agree it's buyer beware also.....but....I'm a bit hesitant to endorse an 11x premium, even at a peak time. Just like I'm annoyed when a business class hotel tells me that there will be an $18 charge if I use the wifi in my room. As the customer, it's easy enough to just decline it - there is no doubt a Starbucks or McDonalds within a block - but there is an element of greed in the price. (The hotel assumes I'm a business traveller who will just put the charge on my expense account, but that's not always true). I don't mind people getting a little vocal about greed.

Uber will eventually have competition. Hopefully the pricing will change as more competition emerges. But then, thee is theoretical competition between cellphone companies, and they just copied each others' roaming rates right up to the day when the government stepped in.

- Paul
 
crs1026 said:
I agree it's buyer beware also.....but....I'm a bit hesitant to endorse an 11x premium, even at a peak time. Just like I'm annoyed when a business class hotel tells me that there will be an $18 charge if I use the wifi in my room. As the customer, it's easy enough to just decline it - there is no doubt a Starbucks or McDonalds within a block - but there is an element of greed in the price. (The hotel assumes I'm a business traveller who will just put the charge on my expense account, but that's not always true). I don't mind people getting a little vocal about greed.
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No problem with vocal...none at all...but it really needs to be directed at the service provider....some just get a little tired of the "I don't like the price of something I knew (or should have known) the price of before I bought it so I want the media to help me get my money back" complaining. There is a difference between paying for the wifi in the business class hotel then calling the star or ctv to get their consumer reporter to get your money back and simply complaining to the hotel and telling them you will not pay for something that should be free (before you use it).

crs1026 said:
Uber will eventually have competition. Hopefully the pricing will change as more competition emerges. But then, thee is theoretical competition between cellphone companies, and they just copied each others' roaming rates right up to the day when the government stepped in.

- Paul
Click to expand...

They already do have competition from a similar (but not identical) service which is legally forbidden from raising the price according to demand (they are, also, legally forbidden from lowering their price when demand is soft...without first applying to the government for permission to do so).
 
Napoleon said:
There is absolutely more complexity to this debate that then either side lets on, and your post hits some of the highlights. Uber right now exists as a useful adjunct to existing transit and taxi options. It's lower fares at non-peak times definitely influence the frequency of use for me. I tend to avoid it at non-peak times.

I do think people rightly have some quibbles about just high a surge pricing is reasonable. Also, there's a really worry that if it were to supplant taxis altogether, what would this do. It may be that a parallel regulatory structure is needed, but that would involve the competing parties getting around the hyperbole and finding a practical solution.
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Surge pricing is just a result of supply and demand but there also needs to be an acknowledgement that many people who were taking the service on NYE were probably not in the right mind to fully appreciate how costly the surge pricing would be. I assumed there was a ceiling or max to surge pricing but apparently there is none? There's no excuse for ignorance in the law but it's also a reason why we put regulations on the existing taxi industry to cap the $ per KM that someone pays when taking a cab home at night.
 
They already do have competition from a similar (but not identical) service which is legally forbidden from raising the price according to demand (they are, also, legally forbidden from lowering their price when demand is soft...without first applying to the government for permission to do so).
Click to expand...

I deliberately ignored mentioning them :) Ultimately an 11x Uber fare may still be a more attractive deal than whatever grime, slime, or bodily fluids the competition's ride brings along. That's the marketplace for you.

I was thinking ahead to the potential Uber-quality competitors, and wondering whether competing fare structures would be an improvement or a further annoyance. Uber charges X, but the rates rise at peak times. Uber(2) charges a different amount, but the peak fare never exceeds 4x the non-peak fare. Or there's a $2 surcharge for xxxxx that Uber doesn't demand. In theory, the consumer gets to mull it all over and choose their poison. That can be a headache, especially on the fly. In theory, tow trucks are a competitive industry and it's an open market for the consumer....

No easy answer!

- Paul
 
Plenty of Uber competitors out there, just none of have been able to make it work in Toronto.
 
There's already one called InstaRyde. It's a local startup.

Upside is that their rates are just a tad cheaper and they have no surge. Downside is that since they're just starting and they don't have a good base, hailing a car is sometimes challenging.
 
Halo used to be in Toronto and was actually pretty successful but they pulled out of North America to focus on Europe a few years back.
 
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