Ride Pass rides more expensive than before?
Oct 1, 2017, 6:03 am
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Aug 2014
Posts: 3,713
Ride Pass rides more expensive than before?
DC resident here. I first purchased a Ride Pass back in early 2017, and it was fantastic. Anywhere within the Ride Pass radius was $4.49 for UberX. I could travel from NoVa to suburban Maryland for $4.49.
I purchased a Ride Pass last month, and the same trip from NoVa to suburban Maryland now costs $25 with UberX and $20 with UberPool. I confirmed with Uber that the RidePass is working properly.
What's going on? Did Uber raise prices so much that the Ride Pass no longer defrays as much as it used to?
I purchased a Ride Pass last month, and the same trip from NoVa to suburban Maryland now costs $25 with UberX and $20 with UberPool. I confirmed with Uber that the RidePass is working properly.
What's going on? Did Uber raise prices so much that the Ride Pass no longer defrays as much as it used to?
Oct 1, 2017, 7:27 am
#2
Suspended
Join Date: Aug 2010
Location: DCA
Programs: UA US CO AA DL FL
Posts: 50,262
Uber has charged in that range for several years now. I believe that it at one point had offered the feature at $10 + fixed fee.
Yes, Uber has raised that price as well as other prices. If you look at the massive media reporting, you can see that Uber was subsidizing you to the tune of 40% and that was not sustainable. The business goal was to use the discounts to create market share and then charge market rates.
Uber has cut its losses a great deal and doing that means customers paying the full freight or close to.
At the same time, Uber has two groups of customers. Riders and drivers. Keeping the drivers happy is just as important because without them, you can't be kept happy. You may have seen that Uber recently increased the driver payment on Pool rides by $1 in order to get drivers to accept more of those calls as the Pool market increases. That $1 has to come from somewhere and one place is the passenger.
$4.49 + a share of the Pass of about $1 means $5.49 for a ride from Arlington to Bethesda. That isn't sustainable.
If you figure the approximate taxi fare and knock about 25-30% off, you will likely land somewhere are where Uber (& Lyft) ought to be.
Yes, Uber has raised that price as well as other prices. If you look at the massive media reporting, you can see that Uber was subsidizing you to the tune of 40% and that was not sustainable. The business goal was to use the discounts to create market share and then charge market rates.
Uber has cut its losses a great deal and doing that means customers paying the full freight or close to.
At the same time, Uber has two groups of customers. Riders and drivers. Keeping the drivers happy is just as important because without them, you can't be kept happy. You may have seen that Uber recently increased the driver payment on Pool rides by $1 in order to get drivers to accept more of those calls as the Pool market increases. That $1 has to come from somewhere and one place is the passenger.
$4.49 + a share of the Pass of about $1 means $5.49 for a ride from Arlington to Bethesda. That isn't sustainable.
If you figure the approximate taxi fare and knock about 25-30% off, you will likely land somewhere are where Uber (& Lyft) ought to be.
Oct 1, 2017, 6:55 pm
#3
Join Date: Oct 2009
Location: LA
Programs: Hilton Diamond, SPG Gold, Delta Platinum Medallion, AAdvantage Platinum Pro
Posts: 600
As usual, Uber PR and reality are pretty far apart.
Oct 2, 2017, 6:23 am
#4
Original Poster
Join Date: Aug 2014
Posts: 3,713
Uber has charged in that range for several years now. I believe that it at one point had offered the feature at $10 + fixed fee.
Yes, Uber has raised that price as well as other prices. If you look at the massive media reporting, you can see that Uber was subsidizing you to the tune of 40% and that was not sustainable. The business goal was to use the discounts to create market share and then charge market rates.
Uber has cut its losses a great deal and doing that means customers paying the full freight or close to.
At the same time, Uber has two groups of customers. Riders and drivers. Keeping the drivers happy is just as important because without them, you can't be kept happy. You may have seen that Uber recently increased the driver payment on Pool rides by $1 in order to get drivers to accept more of those calls as the Pool market increases. That $1 has to come from somewhere and one place is the passenger.
$4.49 + a share of the Pass of about $1 means $5.49 for a ride from Arlington to Bethesda. That isn't sustainable.
If you figure the approximate taxi fare and knock about 25-30% off, you will likely land somewhere are where Uber (& Lyft) ought to be.
Yes, Uber has raised that price as well as other prices. If you look at the massive media reporting, you can see that Uber was subsidizing you to the tune of 40% and that was not sustainable. The business goal was to use the discounts to create market share and then charge market rates.
Uber has cut its losses a great deal and doing that means customers paying the full freight or close to.
At the same time, Uber has two groups of customers. Riders and drivers. Keeping the drivers happy is just as important because without them, you can't be kept happy. You may have seen that Uber recently increased the driver payment on Pool rides by $1 in order to get drivers to accept more of those calls as the Pool market increases. That $1 has to come from somewhere and one place is the passenger.
$4.49 + a share of the Pass of about $1 means $5.49 for a ride from Arlington to Bethesda. That isn't sustainable.
If you figure the approximate taxi fare and knock about 25-30% off, you will likely land somewhere are where Uber (& Lyft) ought to be.
Nov 30, 2017, 2:10 pm
#6
Join Date: Nov 2017
Posts: 4
I am in Philadelphia as well, this month got 6.99 uberPOOL and 9.99 uberX. Last month was also 2.99 and 5.99. Flat fee went down to $5 from $20 though. Any other data points this month on price changes?
Dec 1, 2017, 11:59 am
#9
Join Date: Oct 2014
Posts: 5
I renewed because the price of the pass was 5 bucks. I think of it as surge price protection. Often times the price will surge in bad weather or busy times. It only takes avoiding one surge to pay off the pass. They say that you will get charged the lower price of the ride is cheaper than the pass price.
Dec 7, 2017, 10:09 am
#10
Join Date: Dec 2017
Posts: 4
I got one because of the 10% rebate in Uber rides. I have an airport ride coming up and I will save roughly 5 bucks with just that. I am yet to see if they charge lower if the ride is cheaper than the pass price. I get rides for ~4 bucks at times. Will see if I still do.
Dec 13, 2017, 8:53 am
#11
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: NYC
Posts: 8,495
I believe all of these ride pass offers are just experiments. My hunch is that they have various marketing teams in various cities who are given a marketing budget for these things, and the teams play around with different ride pass configurations to see how much people will pay up front for how big a promised discount, and what actually gets people riding more.
Jun 5, 2018, 9:35 am
#12
Join Date: Jul 2006
Location: NYC
Programs: DL PM, Marriott Gold, Hertz PC, National Exec
Posts: 6,736
I just got an offer for an UberPool Ride Pass, unlimited rides for $5.99 each for a month. Given that my UberPool rides are very rarely above $4.00 (above that, and I'll take the Subway or Via), I declined.
