Uber says there will be 'no surprises' with fares on New Year's Eve
Math can be difficult. Just ask Facebook.
That being so, Uber has a gift for you this New Year's Eve. No, it's not free rides. The holiday is one of Uber's busiest, and therefore most-lucrative, nights of the year.
Instead, as part of Uber's annual tip sheet to attempt to ease the onslaught of hate on surge pricing via social media, Uber recounted that the app's "upfront fares" feature will offer you "no surprises."
Expect to see less tweets with screenshots like this:
This Tweet is currently unavailable. It might be loading or has been removed.
Because instead you'll be seeing this:
Rates commonly jump to six-to-eight-times normal prices in major cities and have been chronicled to more than 10 times. And Uber predicts it will provide more than 15 million rides, up from 5 million the year prior.
In previous years, Uber showed riders how much the surge pricing affected the standard fare via a times number and would then prompt users to type in that scale.
Now there's no need — at least in the majority of cities in the U.S., Canada and other cities internationally.
"In most cities, as you ring in 2017, you can get a glimpse of what’s to come with upfront fares. Before you request an Uber, you’ll see the total cost of your ride so there are no unwelcome surprises heading into the New Year," Uber wrote in the blog post.
Other recommendations from Uber to avoid surprises include taking an uberPOOL, as in putting your ride in the hands of Uber's algorithm to not only match you with a driver but also with more passengers. As Uber recently put forth in its updated community guidelines, "don’t comment on someone’s appearance or ask whether they are single."
Following patterns from previous years, Uber advises that fares will be the highest between midnight and 3 a.m.
Topics Uber
Kerry Flynn is a business reporter for Mashable covering the tech industry. She previously reported on social media companies, mobile apps and startups for International Business Times. She has also written for The Huffington Post, Forbes and Money magazine. Kerry studied environmental science and economics at Harvard College, where she led The Harvard Crimson's metro news and design teams and played mellophone in the Band. When not listening to startup pitches, she runs half-marathons, plays with puppies and pretends to like craft beer.
