When public transport chaos strikes and you’re trying to get home, there’s always Uber – but it’s a rollercoaster of emotions when your few-dollars train trip turns into a $100 Uber ride, all thanks to surge pricing.
In an Australian-first initiative, the NSW government has just made an agreement with Uber to limit surge pricing when things on our public transport network go wrong (e.g. track work, bad weather or emergency situations).
RECOMMENDED: This Sydney pie has taken gold in Australia’s best pies competition
This will help prevent issues like those that happened during a city rail network shutdown in March, which saw thousands of commuters stranded at peak hour. Without other options, many turned to the rideshare service and were outraged when fares spiked to hundreds of dollars above the usual rates. One poor soul trying to get from the city to Mount Annan (which typically costs $40) was slapped with a hefty $500 fee – that’s return flights to Bali and a dozen Mai Tais on the beach.
It’s blow-ups like these that have led Uber to apologise and reimburse customers for the surcharges, and now team up with the state government on this new surge price cap. The rideshare giant has promised to keep tabs on NSW’s public transport network 24/7 and will immediately notify drivers of any disruptions.
The new price cap was first activated during the recent major fire in a heritage building near Central Station, which impacted light rail services between Circular Quay and Moore Park. Of course, it’s still too early to know what impact the surge price caps will have on Uber’s ability to motivate drivers to service an area during a disruption.