UPDATE 1:29 pm ET Monday: Uber announced in an email to customers Monday afternoon that surge prices will be capped at 2.8x the normal price, in keeping with its agreement with the New York Attorney General. The company also warned customers of greater-than-average wait times and limited destinations.
For Uber, bad press often follows bad weather.
In New York, many still remember how the company launched surge pricing during Hurricane Sandy in 2012, forcing hurricane-stricken consumers to dig deep in their wallets during a disaster.
With a blizzard on track to plaster areas from New Jersey to Maine with one to three feet or more of snow beginning Monday and reaching a peak on Tuesday, particularly slamming Boston and New York, many are keeping a close watch on Uber's storm pricing.
Last year, Uber agreed to cap surge pricing in New York City during emergencies. The agreement with New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman in July included a non-specific limit to Uber pricing during “abnormal disruptions of the market" like natural disasters. The deal was based on a law on New York's books dating back to the winter of 1978-79 that guarded against price gouging for heating oil prices.
As Schneiderman admitted at the time, Uber didn't set a single, fixed price for rides. Instead, its rates are "dynamic, rising and falling with demand," Schneiderman said in the release. The formula for natural disasters is now limited to the normal range of prices the company has charged within the preceding 60 days minus the three highest prices charged during that period. (For those keeping track, Lyft caps its emergency surge pricing at 200%.)
In addition, Uber pledged to donate the proceeds of its "dynamically priced" trips to the American Red Cross.
The move may not appease critics of the company, who jumped on the company's latest public relations fumble: a decision to initiate surge pricing in Sydney during an armed hostage crisis. As the snow was beginning to fall Monday morning, people on Twitter were already keeping an eye out for Uber surge pricing, including New York Mayor Bill de Blasio:
De Blasio: "Price gouging in the context of an emergency is illegal." Please call 311 if you see it. pic.twitter.com/F4z3ZGG96D— Jim Roberts (@nycjim) January 26, 2015
Lyft is capping surge at 200% during the #blizzardof2015, let's see what Uber ends up at. Last time was 8x, I believe.— Polly Mosendz (@pollyNYC) January 26, 2015
Any guesses on what Uber's surge pricing be during the #blizzardof2015? I say 3 pints of blood and/or firstborn child.— Brad Abraham (@NotBradAbraham) January 26, 2015
6am, a few flurries falling and #uber is already hiking fares. #blizzardof2015 #SnowWatch2015— Amanda Shapin (@Shapin_Up) January 26, 2015