Uber - Charge for ‘Bay Bridge Eastbound’
 

Wanted to get thoughts on this.

we take Uber every so often, but usually keep within easy bay, so hoping some have experience crossing the bridge with Uber and the charges that come with it.

last week, took a ride from SF to Pleasanton. The fare was definitely extremely high, due to that being DreamForce, so expected for high demand. However, when looking over the receipt, I noticed a $7.00 charge for ‘Bay Bridge Eastbound’. Found this highly curious, because, as those familiar with the area likely know, the bridges in/out of SF only charge tolls westbound (into SF), and not eastbound.

Wrote in to Uber support who first defended it by saying I had already agreed to charge by accepting the ride, then telling my, multiple times that it was my choice to tip the driver and they can’t refund those, which obviously had nothing to do with what I was asking about. They put $10 Credit in my account as a ‘courtesy’ for the tip (again, what?), and when I responded saying I appreciate the gesture, but wanted to discuss the toll that doesn’t exist, they refused.

look, if they want to use that as part of determining the fare, I’d say that is their prerogative to do so, but to outright add a fee for something that doesn’t exist seems very deceptive. I was expecting to hear something about the driver have to return to SF, but I know for a fact that was not happening (driver said he was returning from a ride to the city).

anybody been charged a fee for the bridge eastbound, and any suggestions on what to do to get them to change This?. Was planning on sending a complaint to PUC, but I don’t even know if that actually does anything or is more a or stunt to make people wronged feel better, and potentially my congressman. I’m a bit surprised, actually, if this is the norm, that there hasn’t been a class action suit.

It's probably not analogous, but here is the NYC Taxi and Limousine Commission's fare for trips from NYC to Newark Airport:

"Trips to Newark Airport (EWR):Standard metered fare.Plus $20.00 Newark Surcharge.Plus tip and tolls to and from EWR (passengers are charged for the drivers’ return tolls).The on-screen rate message should read 'Rate #3 - Newark Airport.'"

(Emphasis added.)

Of course, NYC yellow cabs are not allowed to pick up fares in New Jersey for the trip back to NYC. So that's an important difference.

I assume that the driver was from the San Francisco side of the bay, not the East Bay. He or she had to drive back to the San Francisco side after you were dropped off. Why should the driver be responsible for the toll charge to go back home?

As a practical matter, those drivers are either getting a good fare back over a bridge or on their way home and not incurring a toll. Since I already agree to the total fare, it is what it is, and I'm not begrudging a driver trying to scrape by and make a living, but I've had a number of drivers over the years on their way home which is why they accepted a ride in my direction, or it is surge city back to the City for pay-tay time.

I last took rideshare from east bay to sf in 2018 or so when there wasn’t a toll charge line item. I don’t comprehend this toll charge because most rideshare drivers can make their way back to their desired destination on the driver part of the app so that the app will offer them rides going in the direction of their desired destination eg a Pleasanton pickup to Berkeley and then a Berkeley ride to Emeryville and then an Oakland pickup that ends in The Sunset neighborhood of San Francisco.

It appears that you didn't read the OP in full. It says otherwise.

They will pick up another fare going back, and that fare will pay the toll. Otherwise they collect one toll twice. And remember this is ridesharing. Last time I took one from the airport, the driver was telling me that he worked near the airport and picked up a fare going in his direction for the ride home, so in the traditional ride share he might have already been going that way. Getting the toll one way is a bonus, but getting it twice is greedy.

Not necessarily; that depends on the destination and time of day.
I did read it in full and I still think that the charge was for the driver's return trip to San Francisco despite the toll being described as "eastbound."

Your statement makes several assumptions - none of which should be made, especially with Uber.
1) That the driver is from SF. In fact, very few of the drivers are actually living in SF because you can't afford to live in SF on a Uber wage.
2) That the driver is doing going back to San Francisco without a fare. Yes, rush hours tend to see traffic all one way, but rush hours also prevent drivers from doing very many trips so the typical outcome is rides on the side they are on. Drivers don't unilaterally go the opposite of traffic - they follow the rides they are assigned. If that is back to SF, fine but it could just as easily be driving to Sacramento, to the inland/Pleasanton, to San Jose, etc etc.
3) That Uber is doing this for the driver - as in the driver gets the charge. Never make this assumption; Uber has been caught numerous times giving drivers less than what passengers paid minus Uber's stated charges.

This isn’t gospel, but
 

When I try to find out more information about this, I came across a Reddit form for Uber drivers. It was clear there that if you’re going from the city to the East Bay, they charge the passenger for the toll. It’s assumed the driver won’t necessarily have a fair coming back across the bridge

I appreciate all the responses here.

I think the biggest difference is what you point out - that NYC cabs can not pick up in Jersey. Also, in this area, there are ways to get around paying a toll, even when going back to the city (eg, driver can seek out a fare to San Jose or elsewhere in South Bay, then from there back to SFO/elsewhere in SF or on west side of the bay.

nope. Driver specifically said they had dropped off a fare from East Bay, so Uber collected the toll twice. To be fair, I’m not sure how Uber/drivers handle tolls - part of me suspects that Uber takes the funds and reimburses drivers for the trips they take that incurs the toll. In this case, the excess toll would pad Ubers revenue/profits, and while I want to believe a corporate wouldn’t pull something like this, most probably know that Uber has been caught doing things that are…umm….below board

if that’s the case, then they should not list the fee as something that doesn’t exist, and as I already mentioned, driver had a fare westbound to the city, so someone collected one toll twice. Like I said, if Uber thinks they should collect more $ for a trip across the Bay Bridge, they should build it into the fare.

this. Like I said, several scenarios where this is suspect - because either there is no actual toll, or Uber is collecting twice. Exactly why I was asking about it.

again, that’s a bad assumption. Or that they are even going to go back westbound at all.

You should have made that clear in your initial post.

Im sorry that you may have missed it, but I thought I did. From my original post (bolding added here:

Really comes down to Uber's technology implementation as drivers can have a very circuitous shift back and forth between SF bay area bridges.

The rule of thumb or should I say logic should be that only the westbound rider be charged the bridge toll with the following caveats:
1. If a driver decides to start their shift by first driving westbound across a bridge, they are on the hook themselves for paying the toll
2. If at the end of a shift, the driver needs to drive westbound across a bridge, then the last ride eastbound across a bridge
3. Tolls are tracked in chronological order throughout the shift via debits and credits i.e. eastbound payer gets credited once a westbound trip occurs
4. Doesn't matter what bridges are cross throughout the shift and take into account the varying tolls as follows:
a. All bridges except golden gate $7 or $3.50 for carpool 2+ people or clean air vehicle during carpool hours
b. Golden Gate bridge $9.25 or $7.25 for carpool 3+ people (no clean air vehicle discount) during carpool hours

Example Ride Shift: (driver lives and starts shift in East Bay and all rides are single passenger)
1 - Oakland to San Francisco (Bay bridge) - rider 1 pays $7 toll and no toll refund possible
2 - San Francisco to SFO - no bridges, no toll
3 - SFO to Berkeley - rider 3 not charged $7 toll as driver on home side of bridges
4 - Berkeley to San Rafael (Richmond San Rafael bridge - rider 4 pays $7 toll and no toll refund possible
5 -San Rafael to San Francisco (Golden Gate bridge) - rider 5 pays $9.25 toll
6. San Francisco to Livermore (Bay bridge) - rider 6 not charged $7 toll as driver on home side of bridges

Drive decides to end their shift and all riders have been charged or credited correctly for the shift.

For as long as I can remember Uber has always charged bridge tolls for bridge crossings out of the city, where there is no toll.