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Uber Had A Very Bad Day
While the world was stunned yesterday to learn of the latest hostage situation in Sydney, one company was seeking to capitalize on what - at least to the dozen or so hostages - was the tragedy of their lifetimes. Uber.
This is what the Sydney-based twitter account of Uber posted moments after the hostage situation hit the airwaves.
We are all concerned with events in CBD. Fares have increased to encourage more drivers to come online & pick up passengers in the area.
— Uber Sydney (@Uber_Sydney) December 15, 2014
The result was the implementation of sticky surge pricing that resulted in any car fare having a minimum fare between $50 and $100.
Needless to say, the response was swift...
... and sufficiently brutal, that Uber immediately not only ended its surge pricing but gave enraged locals free rides just to shut them up.
Uber Sydney trips from CBD will be free for riders. Higher rates are still in place to encourage drivers to get into the CBD.
— Uber Sydney (@Uber_Sydney) December 15, 2014
But the damage was already done. Reuters was on it:
Online car service Uber on Monday offered free rides from Sydney's central business district following a public backlash over an initial surge in prices amid a hostage drama in a city cafe. Fares on the U.S.-based company's booking app initially rose to a minimum fee of A$100 ($82) for pickups near the siege, more than four times the fare before the drama unfolded.
The price hike was a result of the company's controversial automatic surge pricing.
Sydney's public transport system was under pressure because of the siege as several businesses in the city, including major banks, evacuated offices and sent employees home.
And so the debate begins anew: is Uber right in engaging in cold-blooded capitalism and allowing prices, and supply, to reflect demand, or is it Uber's fault for not "injecting", as its critics demand, at least a dose of humanity in its algos?
The answer will hardly come any time soon, however for now the good news is that the company which more than doubled its valuation in the past 6 months to a ridiculous $40+ billion, has not lost even more value following a ban in Australia after what is becoming a global backlash if not so much against Uber's surge pricing concept, as to the company's status quo-challenging business model itself, which has seen the startup banned in increasingly more countries, from India to Spain to Nevada.
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what is CBD exactly and why is Uber involved with it?
Better, cheaper taxis - forbidden by law.
For our protection, of course!
Fuck multi-billion dollar Uber and dupes that use this scam.
Why? Because they offer cheaper rides? Or because they screw fascistic government/taxi cartel collaborators out their license fees and unearned market share? Connect people peer-to-peet to circumvent existing bureacratic and legal horseshit?
Uber and services like it are how free people cirecumvent the State and make it irrelevant. I know everyone here has a hardon of rage for OVERVALUED TECH STARTUPS....SMASH. I get it. But use your brain for a nanosecond. Just because you despise the overvaluations in the market doesn't mean you should shit on a company that's leveraging mobile networks to destroy a corrupt, fascist industry.
An uber in every industry will destroy the state's stranglehold on individual freedom. Period. They should be celebrated, not shit on.
It's called hazard pay. You wanna go work in a place where there might be bombs, flying bullets, or other terrorists?
How much would you need to be paid to take the risk.
People are fucking idiots.
Amen. It circumvents the state not only in the cab industry, but reduces revenues extorted from drunk drivers.
Lol-- Uber didnt exactly offer "cheaper rates" in this specific scenario. You kinda missed the mark.
As for Uber creating competition, which is certainly good, well...they don't bring anything much to the table in this game, besides a cellphone app which can be pretty easily duplicated. And will be.
Meanwhile, Uber acts pretty much like any taxi company anywhere--job #1 is, rape the drivers as hard as you can. The difference is, with their "surge" pricing scheme, they have also figured out a way to rape the passengers as well.
If that's "innovation", well...no thanks.
If it is a bad idea, the market will speak. They are only able to bahave the way that do because the market is restricted by government regulation. If it is such a bad idea, why are cab operators attempting to use The Law to end Uber?
Competition improves product and price at all ends. Let the market decide. But this will not be allowed. The State, in typical fascist form, will step in with its guns, on behalf if Cab companies, and its revenue streams.
On the equity side, all that QE3 needs to flow somewhere.
Competition ought to be fair.
If I pay my taxes and dues, and you don't - and yet we both are in the same business, then this "competition" is unfair and unlawful.
To claim to not be a transportation company, which is what uber does,
is a deception. This deception allowed it to avoid the burdens that
other small businesses are carrying truthfully.
This uber competition is not fair, not ethical and not lawful.
The idea behind Uber is great. Competition for a state-backed monopoly is everywhere and always a good thing. Providing people with a convenient way to share an expensive and under-used resource is also a good thing.
This particular competitor, though... Judging from this morning's tasteless incident, as well as from recent remarks made by a boorish executive, Uber sounds like it's run by a pack of complete jerks. I deleted the damn thing from my phone, unused, not because of one idiotic remark, but because the CEO didn't sack the guy immediately. That tells me all I want to know about their corporate culture.
Maybe Lyft is better behaved. Let's see what the market thinks (and by "market" I include drivers, passengers, and investors).
As for overvalued tech startups, what's the problem? Ignore 'em or short 'em. Or start your own.
Because this fraud evades same payments and same taxes that small businesses are paying, douchebag.
There are hundreds of app that do the same and better.
And more importantly, do it lawfully and ethically.
Uber is Silicon Valley billionaires' latest ponzi scam.
Uber gets drunks out of the driver's seat
Taxicabs do, as well. A hundred-year-old technology that still works great.
At a million dollars a badge in NYC.
I have no argument with your posts.
Just saying that the cost of entry is very high, and an alternative, even if hokey, is welcome.
A final word on my part, reasonable regulations.
For a price, I am sure that they pick up fares in 'high crime areas' which is a service most badged drivers will not do.
Worth Mo' money dontcha think?
you must deregulate and open free markets to our monopoly domination dammit !
Uber is the monopoly. Wake up. Calling thousands of small tax-paying taxicab businesses a monopoly, yet missing 42 billion dollar tax-evading
single crooked corporation (uber) is absurd.
"Central Business District". The bit just south of Circular Quay.
UBER-FUCKING-IDIOTIC!
Here, let me DuckDuckGo that for you:
Central Business District.
CBD=cannabinoid, a compound found In cannabis
Totally unrelated. US air AA135 from London to LA has declared an emergency and is returning to airport. Earlier Air France AF84 from Paris to San Fran turned around and returned to Paris. Via Airlive.net
"In light of the ongoing tragedy, we have decided to manipulate the situation, in an abundance of caution, and hereby make fares twice the regular cost....for the children. Anyone needing a ride out of CBD will be effectively price gouged. We even will accept gun wielding Iranians. Thanks for your consideration. The base pay for a ride is $150. With love, Uber."
Seems my troll-cunt is online today....Amerikan Parrot is that you? Don't you have Kudlow to interview?
Cunts that's what uber rapists are.
Humor: (n.) : a funny or amusing quality: jokes, funny stories, etc., of a particular kind: the ability to be funny or to be amused by things that are funny
I downvoted you for using the Commie term "gouged."
Last I checked, no one is forcing you to utilize their service, so take your fucking entitlement mentality and shove it.
Just because you're not smart enough to understand price discovery in a world of scarce supply is no reason to behave like a whiny little bitch spewing your nonsense here.
I do not use Uber and own no stake in their company. If this is what you take from my post I believe you need to calm down. As stated online by dictionary.com, gouged means overcharge; swindle. I would say that sums up their policy right there. If you applaud a company taking advantage of a harrowing situation go for it.
How are they taking advantage? Again, nobody is forcing anybody to use Uber. How about cops, firemen, librarians, teachers, insurance companies, housing, NASA, NSA, IRS....now there is some fucking coercion, overcharging, and swindling. Perhaps you prefer the monopolies of The State to free market attempts at competition? Would you like a State run cab company as well...oh wait we nearly have that already.
Were it not for The State, Uber would experience true competiton.
I'm done. Note to self, price gouging by "free market" vendors/users of the service that take advantage of a terrorist act is fine. My apologies. People did the same thing during Sandy and other devastating situations. It wasn't seen as the free market. It was seen as taking advantage of a shitty situation. Just my opinion. I respect yours and the others, but I disagree in this instance.
What is the problem with raising price to account for a likely drop in supply within a known hazardous area?
Why did anyone down vote this? Pretty funny. Sad about the hostage being killed but the elites like and create these events.
You could get a subprime car loan for that kind of scratch.
I suppose the idea of walking a couple blocks outside the CBD and getting picked up for a normal rate never occurred to anyone.
Or, since it's one gunman in one coffeeshop, how bout just going about your day relatively normally, and just brew some joe at the office? Why the abject terror? Concern, sure. Hyper-vigilance for a time, absolutley. But to flee in terror seems a bit over the top. No?
Are you not terrorized?
Not trembling with fear?
How can uber jack the price if your not scared?
How can the US justify trillions in military spending if your not terrorized?
Get with the program! Think of the children! Live in fear!
Didn't anybody tell this gunman that Australia has strict gun control statutes? Where are the authorities to confiscate this weapon?
He probably had a pellet gun or paint ball gun.
It's called supply and demand you socialist asshats... you failed to anticipate blowback and now you pay a premium to save your sorry ass.
We surge charged some folks
The whole "We ____ some folks" thing is so August, isn't it? Let's move on...
Carl I Can.
maybe the craigslist killer is available
David Plouffe works for Uber. They'll be worth $100 billion by the end of 2015. It's the way things work around here.
David Plouffe is a criminal working for oligarchy and rearing the rest of us yet again.
He needs to be in jail. For few decades the least.
Criminal crook.
And so the debate begins anew: is Uber right in engaging in cold-blooded capitalism and allowing prices, and supply, to reflect demand, or is it Uber's fault for not "injecting", as its critics demand, at least a dose of humanity in its algos?
Could someone tell me what this has to do with capitalism? Is "supply and demand" only a capitalistic concept (reality)?
In reality uber is s scam. They operate a commercial transportation business yet evading laws regulation taxes by claiming to be a "technology".
With $42 billion dollar valuation you would think that these crooks
would comply to same rules that thousands of small and medium
size transportation businesses comply to... but noooo... The billionaire
uber cocksuckers want it all and they are above the law.
Fuck Uber.
Fuck the idiots using this uber fraud.
In NYC Uber is fully compliant with local taxi regulations, insurance requirements, sales tax collection, workers comp coverage, etc. It's the same all over the US, Uber complies with whatever local regulations they are subject to. Why are you spreading this horseshit misinformation? This is coming from someone who runs a limousine company in NYC and is a direct competitor to Uber. Trust me, a large VC startup like Uber would not risk blowing it all without researching all of the regulations that might apply to is in each locale that it operates in. Do you think Goldman Sachs and various investors would tolerate the risk of being shut down by the Taxi & Limusine Commision? Get real. You just don't like Uber, profit or "the rich" and you'll say anything.
No, it's not and stop spreading uber lies.
Even in courts Uber denied that transportation
regulatory and municipal dues apply to it
because, well guess what, "it's not a transportation
company". Total scam based on lies that is
enriching Silicon Valley billionaires.
Uber holds at least five TLC base licenses in NYC. In NYC at least, Uber is a duly licensed base. Go check the nyc.gov TLC website listing FHV base licenses and you can see for yourself. Uber collects and remits NYS sales tax and NYS black car workers comp surcharges, just like any other TLC licenced base. Who's lying and who's making emotional pleas?
Business permits to operate? None. Why? Because Uber is "not a transportation company". Absurd, but that's their excuse. But lets go on...
Inspections at the same level as local taxiabs? None.
Business quarterly taxes because this app-dispatch taxicab gig is a business? None.
Yearly corporate taxes? None.
Municipal surcharges? None.
NYC-specific MTA tax? None.
NYC local tax? None.
Yeah... "duly licensed" my ass. You are an app-dispatch taxicab business that evades all of the costs that thousands small taxidrivers are now carrying so that few uber oligarch billionaire owners could enrich themselves even more.
NYC-specific MTA tax? No TLC black car or luxury limosine base pays that either because their drivers are independent contractors. They pay that tax on their office employees, I assure you.
NYC local tax? Of course they collect NY state and county sales taxes. Take a ride with Uber and view your receipt. It's there.
Yearly corporate taxes? Do you really think a corporation as large as Uber is not filing their corporate tax returns?
Inspections of vehicles? That's done by the TLC and the NYS DMV. Every TLC licenced vehicle must be inspected quarterly or the vehicle's licence will eventually revoked. If an Uber driver doesn't get his vehicle inspected and loses his license he won't be working for any company, not just Uber. It's the vehicle owner's responsibility to get the car inspected in a timely fasion, not the base that the vehicle does trips for.
Business permits to operate? I told you, go to the NYC TLC website and view the list of base licencees. Uber has at least five base licences with the TLC. If they did not meet the TLC's base license requirements they would not have those licenses.
You're entitled to your own opinion but not your own facts. I know all of this because I operate a TLC-licenced base in NYC. I know more than you on this subject. Have you ever actually run a business? Why don't you just start your own limo or car service company in NYC, like Uber did and like I did, and find out how all of this works rather than making baseless claims.
"We are not a transportation company". That's the claim Uber makes to avoid burdens that small transportation companies carry every day.
What are you then? A bakery? A pimp association?
You are a taxicab business that evades vast majority of taxicab related
municipal, regulatory and tax payments.
Your business model is based on lie and deception.
Fuck Uber, and fuck billionaires behind this Uber fraud who twisted
laws and hands to let this fraud in.
161 lobbyists are working for uber. That's 161!
Every city that let Uber in is regretting it.
And losing millions. Billions are thieved away because of this fraud.
Same billions that are now added to $41 billion uber-fraud valuation.
You are arguing against Uber, on the side of theft and coercion? Really? Are you sure about that?
Go rape some sucker passengers uber troll.
The most cold-blooded of capitalists should have realized that squeezing every last penny out of a situation such as this is short-sighted and foolish.
Focusing on the tiny profits from today's demand in the Sydney CBD, while ignoring the losses in worldwide, long-term demand due to reputational damage, is simply idiotic. But then self-sabotaging faux pas seem to be business as usual for some companies.
What's the big deal here? I don't get it.
You're a partner at GS, right?
Would you like a side of Ad Hominem with your Poison Well Fallacy?
GS cocksuckers are biggest investors in this uber fraud.
Billionaire crooks.
Yeah it looks shitty - I get that, but on the other hand if UBER didnt exist then a lot of people would have been stuck in CBD for a lot longer, fearing for their lives.
Bitching about this is like bitching about all the US Navy ships existing at all and then bitching further after a tsunami hits and those ships are delivering supplies.
fares have increased to encourage more drivers to come online?
what bullshit is that? that is about the same as 'we have closed our service center so we can offer better service to our clients', or 'we make cheap platic crap because that is what people want'.
they just want your money. all of it.
BTW, any gold-bug here pissing on Uber about this is a hypocrite. When the system collapses or whatever other tragedy occurs and your gold is worth its weight, I doubt you'll be out and about sharing it with the community.
Why, exactly, do these morons expect Uber DRIVERS to go into what is effectively a combat zone to pick them up for the REGULAR FARE?
I guess when you sign up for Uber Driving, they think that you take some sort of oath like a soldier. You want them to risk coming to you? Make it worth it.
These people also seem to think Uber drivers are oncall employees of Uber, whom Uber calls and says "Hey John, get our ass to the CBD now! We need a job done."
These dudes are people who work at will, and whenever on their schedule. If you need people like that "NOW" you have to entice them. Money kinda does that.
Sidney is a combat zone? Gee... who knew.
Yes and this concept actually works. In an outer borough of NYC, even during rush hour I've never waited longer than 15 minutes for a car. I just have to be willing to pay more for that convenience. Are you saying the drivers should just get paid the same no matter the circumstance, traffic congestion, etc.? I guess the drivers are not people to you. Asshole. The drivers get 75% of the increased rate so why don't you attack the driver instead of the company? If you don't like Uber then don't fucking use them. Call a local car service, take a bus...you have options.
Good. Raising prices gets resources into crisis situations. "Price gouging" would have brought a hell of a lot more food and water into New Orleans after Katrina.
Can someone explain why ZH so anti-Uber? I understand valuations for some of these companies may be stretched, but peer-to-peer and other distributed, network-based services are the one shot we've got to break the centralized model that dominates America’s fascistic lovers – Big Gubment and Big Bizness. ZH is essentially puppeting this nonsensical "evil-of-price-gouging-greed" meme so you can take yet another dump on Uber.
Uber is taking on taxi cartels and bringing lower costs to riders. Awesome. It's screwing city halls out of tens of thousands of dollars in taxi licensing fees. Awesome. It's disrupting an industry/government collaboration that has gouged people for money needlessly over decades. Awesome.
So why the hell is there so much anti-Uber sentiment here? Companies like these are how we circumvent existing power structures and make them irrelevant. Distributed and decentralized models are going to bring very real freedom and property rights to people in the next 10 years that the government has robbed them of in the last century. Stop shitting on them.
Excellent point. I think people pick on Uber because they've gone so high so quickly and also because they're so visible.
I am glad to see the initial "This is awful" has given way to some basic understanding of free markets and incentives. The ones complaining are the same guys that wonder why they can't get a ride out of combat zone.
Raising prices means uber tax-evading billionaires and Goldman Sachs are making even more on your sorry ass..,
uber will recover - their business plan is sound - some asshole(s) at uber is (are) bound to get fired over this and then it's business as usual
I am not pro or con Uber. I like breaking the corrupt city-taxi cartel. I do not like the stupid valuations and manipulated IPO.
As far as sydney today - if there is as issue like this hostage situation - the software should have figured out a way to route the users a few blocks out of the CBD to where drivers would go.
This is going to happen. The consumer can always call a regular cab.
Thanks, mate.
the reason uber is a bad idea is because it attempts to game the system, not with a disruptive model within the system but with fancy lawyering that claims they are not a cab company. the reason there are generally a lot of regs on the cab industry is so the vehicles are safe. the drivers aren't criminals. the meter is to prevent a driver from gouging. the barriers to entry, the permit system is meant to limit the number of cabs on the road ultimately to protect the industry from the ravages of the free market. without permits the streets would be flooded with taxis.....like uber. you see, the only way a hack can make money is if there are more riders than cars available. the only way uber can continue to attrct drivers is ultimately to limit the number of drivers in any particular region. once they get the reputation of being a waste of time and too much trouble for the money drivers will disappear.
they are a cab company. they need to follow established rules, change them or find a legitimate way to disrupt the industry. i could beat any legitimate business if i didn't have to follow any of the regulations they have to follow.
I have ridden in the biggest hunk of shit taxi cabs that shouldn't even be on the road in Houston TX. I use Uber all of the time and it's great. The cars and drivers have been great in my experience.
Had any luck being raped yet?
Because obviously being over-charged
and driven in under-insured vehicles
won't stop all the morons still using this scam.
Wake up shit head. If you are not 'gaming the system' you aren't making money.
A basic 21st century premise to (temporary) wealth and 15 minutes of fame.
That is the object of the lesson.
True/false quiz of one hundred questions will be on Thursday.
Why is everyone claiming that they do not follow the same regulations that other cab companies have to follow in their area? Can you cite a source that proves this? My experience is with the NYC metro area (I run a limousine company there) and I can tell you this with certainty: Uber does comply with all NYC T & LC regs as well as insurance, state sales tax and workers comp rules. Period. As for disruption and innovation? Uber is the most disruptive and innovative entrant into the for-hire vehicle space since radio dispatch. My company competes with them and, even so, I tip my hat to them. They make it way easier for the rider and driver to connect. Yes, there will be new apps developed by others because the barrier to entry for this type of technology is pretty low, but Uber did it first and best, in my opinion.
Yeah, because people shouldn't get paid more for taking on more risk. That's just crazy. I mean WTF, a driver is going to take on more risk driving in a hostage area and he shouldn't get paid more?
I don't understand what the problem is. If you don't want to use Uber's service because of surge pricing, the don't use it. Have people never heard of supply and demand? Demand goes up, the price goes up, motivates more supply to come in to play. How is this bad?
Changing the formula for Coke worked out almost as well.
Down the road from me in Fort Myers, the County regulatory commission is having a closed doors hearing today on how to regulate Uber drivers. Everybody wants a piece of the pie.
tried and true strategy--find a way to undercut legitimate businesses whose price structure has gradually evolved to where it is because a lower price cannot legitimately sustain services including a reasonable profit on investment.
Once legitimate business has been destroyed, then the public is at the mercy of whatever price structure the shyster wants to establish.
Big boxes and megafranchises have already put mom&pop operations out of business...Anyone want to compare now extinct roadside diner food from the '60s with McD, BK, Jack, etc..that now charge comparatively more than comparable mom&pop???...anyone try to buy something not mainstream demand from Home Depot, etc, that mom&pop actually knew what it was and either had it in stock or could get it for you quickly..??
when legitimate taxis fold, good luck, fools...you deserve what you get....in spades