This Surge Didn't Work Either: Uber Withdraws Price Hike During Sydney Hostage Situation

I’m a regular user
of Uber, the smart-phone-enabled ride-sharing service that has
upended traditional taxi service in the dozens of cities it
serves.

But goddammit if they people running the show at Uber aren’t
just turning out to be terrible. Not only
are they getting in bed with the very municipal governments
that were trying to cab-block them, they did this in Australia:

After an armed gunman took
patrons of a Sydney chocolate shop hostage during rush
hour Monday morning, the transportation company Uber quadrupled its
fares for panic-stricken customers fleeing the central business
district.

It charged a minimum of $100 ($82 U.S. dollars) to escape.

As the Sydney Opera House and other buildings were evacuated and
images flashed on TV screens of hostages holding a flag bearing the
message “There is no God but Allah” and “Mohammed is the messenger
of God,” Uber tweeted it
was raising prices.

The company has
defended what it calls “surge-pricing” as necessary to
encourage more drivers to pick up passengers when demand is
high.

Within an hour, Uber backtracked after the media publicized
customer complaints of price-gouging.

More here.

Take comfort in that last bit, folks. Part of the market process
is customer feedback and public relations. Early on, Uber had great
p.r., partly because they were (and still are) providing a service
people really want at prices they’re willing to pay. But given the
company’s mounting
“asshole problems,” they really need to think things
through a bit more. It’s one thing to enact surge pricing during
rush hour and even really bad weather events (most riders are
grateful for rides even as the price gets dear). But there are
going to be times to take a pass too.

Other surges that failed include
the one in Iraq and the one in
Afghanistan.