CHICAGO (CBS) — When an influence outage halted the CTA Red, Brown, and Purple traces during the morning rush Thursday, many passengers turned to rideshare apps to get to work as soon as they acquired off the stalled trains.
But as CBS 2’s Sabrina Franza reported, these passengers have been confronted with fares they say aren’t honest – as surge costs left passengers paying large.
There was some excellent news Thursday afternoon from Uber, which stated it’s going to refund riders for the extra surge cash they paid.
But for drivers, when costs go up, they’re left to marvel the place precisely all that extra money goes.
Surge pricing shot up when the ‘L’ took its large L Thursday morning and everybody was left wanting for a plan B.
One tweet confirmed a worth of $55.90 get downtown from the Belmont Red, Brown, and Purple Line station, whereas one other confirmed a worth of $59.96. CBS Chicago Digital Line Producer Blake Tyson observed a experience down three miles of DuSable Lake Shore Drive in an UberXL would price $83.38.
“You passengers are being ripped off, and us drivers are being underpaid,” stated Lenny Sanchez, co-founder of the Independent Drivers Guild.
Sanchez, a former rideshare driver himself who’s now an advocate for drivers, defined how surge pricing works for him and his colleagues.
In one occasion, a buyer paid $34.94. Of that, the motive force acquired a reduce of $18.46 – about 45 p.c. The driver’s reduce included a flat surge price of $7.24, however the buyer doesn’t simply pay that flat fee as well as to the conventional fare. Rather, the shopper is charged a multiplier primarily based on distance — from which the motive force doesn’t profit.
In different phrases, drivers truly do earn more money when there’s a surge — when drivers are on the street, they see a map displaying the flat surge price they’re going to obtain after they settle for a experience. But in contrast to what the shopper pays, the motive force’s payout doesn’t work out to practically the share they have been getting earlier than.
“The driver is literally making $10 less than they would have in the past, on the exact same fare,” Sanchez stated.
Advocates like Sanchez are pushing for an ordinance, that may standardize surge pricing, so drivers see extra of the income.
“A cap on the surge, because not only are we being underpaid, but as passengers, you guys are being ripped off as well too,” Sanchez stated.
There is one such ordinance on the desk now, but it surely has but to be scheduled for a City Council committee listening to because it was launched in February.
Once once more, Uber says they have been going to refund clients the distinction in worth from surge to common costs.
How they try this, we are going to quickly see.