Why Is Uber Surging But I'm Not Getting Any Rides? (Uber/Lyft Driver Advice)
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- Опубліковано 20 лип 2016
- This is a question I get a lot, and if you've been driving for a while, this has probably happened to you. Click here to sign up to drive for Uber, lyft, postmates and doordash: therideshareguy.com/sign-up-b...
If you're sitting in a surge zone and not getting any requests, what gives? Here are a few reasons why you might not be getting surge requests.
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let me burst the bubble on your theory and tell whats actually happening, Uber has an internal policy within the algorithm programming to give rider priority (long rides-higher surge rides) to newer drivers, we "in the know" call it the "Uber Dope Deal". For your first 3-6 months of service depending on how many rides you have under your belt you will make really good money and get all the high paying surge rides. When you start passing the threshold on rides they have in place (this varies from city to city) they start tapering you off, you will end up making more rides and less money and by the end of the week you will make more hours. Less people are coming forward with this because out of frustration they just quit uber entirely and those who keep driving get driven into severe depression and financial problems. Uber at the same time is still making there money and more rides means more usage. This is a practice that was brought to my attention by a former Uber corporate employee long before I seen it in effect. what I'm listening to in your video is excusing Ubers unfair practices by not having all the information of how the system actually works. The more its exposed the more Uber is going to be forced to be transparent and expose these unfair practices.
Lyft does this too
GigFraud Exposure Ha Ha, oh my goodness..lolz Did I read that right? You write "We in the know" ...Wait, was that the Royal "We"? Oh yes, sorry, it's all good... : )
Well let me burst your bubble too. I've been riding for two weeks and I'm making jack shit.
@@vforvillain77pro tip: if you switch from riding to driving, you'll make more 😂
Thank you!!! I've thought this but never seen anyone confirm. Just at my 1 year, 1000 trip mark/threshold (hit this past August/September) I've noticed a SIGNIFICANT decrease in my number of trips, surge requests, I've been driving until 7am which is 3-4hrs LONGER than I use to and still making LESS.
I was sitting in downtown San Antonio during the 5 tornado storm night a couple of weeks ago. Lyft was surging 400% with its tiny pink spot right on top of me. No other pink spots in town. I was getting hit with call after call from 10-15 miles away. Lyft was sending messages saying I was "hurting the community".by not accepting rides. Finally, after declining 15-20 far off requests, I got one right in the 400% zone. It was a drunk guy who stumbled into the car and passed out. His destination was 20 miles away but we hit 3 road closures where I had to turn around so the ride turned into a 50 mile trip. The rider is snoring away the whole time while I was getting lashed with sheets of rain. Needless to say, it was worth it to turn down calls coming in bang-bang-bang for the big payoff.
Yeah, but I'm guessing you got killed with shitty rides shortly after that. Or no rides for a while. Same thing happened to me during 2 rush hour snow storms in Minneapolis.
The drunk hero, you knew where you were needed most.
Be really careful about taking calls that are JUST OUTSIDE the surge area. College kids are famous for moving the pin just outside the area and calling saying OH SORRY I'm REALLY OVER HERE (IN THE SURGE ZONE)
Oh yea for sure! That's one of the things I tell drivers to watch out for :) therideshareguy.com/top-10-ways-that-uber-and-lyft-passengers-are-gaming-the-system-and-how-to-prevent-it/
R Kurtz well, in case I am the one they're waiting for in a different place, if it is 5 mins after they request the ride, I let them cancel or get to the place they requested me to go to. Otherwise, they'll have to pay the cancellation fee. it's that simple. and by the way, should they feel pissed off about having to cooperate, the next thing they'll have to agree to is that they end the journey on their end as I don't fancy their rating or they will be having to wait for someone else.
R Kurtz The passengers don't have a map of surging like we do though, so how do they know where to drop their pin? Also, I've been getting a lot of people trying to cheat Uber Pool lately. They want the benefits of X but pool pricing. They keep on coming up with new ways to scam the system, at the expense of already underpaid drivers. But as far as the location being off, I'll only drive to them if it's only off very slightly, otherwise, cancel!
they just move the pin until they find a spot where the estimate doesn't show a surge
Lyft told me the pink spot will appear if a lot of ppl open the app to look for ride even though they are not requesting but when they see a surge it discourage them from ordering
Thank you for explaining SURGE! I have seen so many videos about passengers, apps and other stugg, yet no breakdown about what it is!! ... Thanks!
This happens to me several times every weekend. Just last night, for example, I was sitting right in the middle of a 2.5-4.0x for 5-10 minutes without any requests. Eventually the surge would just fade out and still no requests. I'd drive out of the area after about 15 minutes and THEN get a ride request there which made me backtrack to that area.
What city are you in? I've never even SEEN a surge before. I little scale pops up on the side showing a color legend, but I've never seen any colors on the map
More likely, the passengers are watching and waiting out surge.
The surge in North NJ is as fickle as the wind. It resembles a weather forecast for precipitation. The surge passes over an area like a cloud and before you can get a request, it dries up.
Also annoying, is when you're waiting in a surge area and the request sent to you is 12 min away, well outside the surge zone you're already in.
Nerv ClaX don't accept those, log off, log back on again and then you are ready to ignore another request from an outside zone.
Good info🎉
surging is manipulation of drivers by uber. I personally ignore it as a driver.
SLVBULL true. makes you clock up a lot of dead mileage.
Both scenarios have happened to me, sitting in a surge area and getting no requests, and getting pulled out of a surge area. This is exactly why I don't chase surge. I rarely have downtime between requests, so I basically wasting gas by chasing.
Yup, I only make a move if I think it will give me a better chance of getting a request.
Yeah...I found out a long time ago that surge is specifically designed for the riders benefit and not the drivers.
I don't even bother. most of the time if I get a request in surge, the rider cancels then waits the surge out, then re-request.
In Sioux Falls Lyft only shows 6 drivers in the passenger App. There could be a lot more but that’s all that they show.
A lot of passengers carry both the Uber and Lyft app. I pick one passenger and told me if the Uber is surging he will be using the Lyft app. A lot of us are using both platforms and I think and believe the other platform is killing surges. This I notice if I go to a Lyft power zones I get more Uber rides.
It's simple. These areas are areas they anticipate to have a high amount of orders so they mark it as surge despite the demand. For them it's better to have more drivers than trips
So is it ok to input your Uber account into the Dynamik app without any issues?
It's happening to me right now. In about 7 hours I got $6. $3 of that was surge. Base $2.87 trip supplement .13cents. Funny while I was commenting is when this trip popped on. I've gone to Arlington, Irving, Dallas, Grand Prairie, and back to Arlington. Burned a quarter tank.
Ahh another North Texas driver!
I totally agree with your point on pax waiting out surge. I'm not sure if this is analogous to other towns, but it seems like the city of Chicago has learned to either avoid or mitigate surge. I've been told by many Chicago pax that they won't request a ride at 1.6 surge or above unless they're going less than a mile; they'll either wait it out, check compare pricing to Lyft, or take a taxi. Add to that the now common experience of sitting in a 2.0 surge zone, getting nothing, then getting a request within seconds of it going down to 1.4 or so. However, in the Chicago suburbs where Uber itself is still a new & less common thing, much less surge, you're way more likely to get people who will accept the higher price. That said, in those areas, you're also more likely to be pulled out of the surge to a pickup 20 minutes away because you're one of the only drivers in the area. I also wonder how Uber's new upfront fare pricing will affect this. Great video, Harry!
Yup for sure. Although with Uber's new upfront pricing, this could lead to more surge rides for drivers :)
therideshareguy.com/will-ubers-new-changes-to-surge-pricing-help-drivers/
Yeah it IS designed to subtly influence the pax to accept more surge rides, so hopefully it'll work in our favor.
This happened to me last night. I was at home and not planning to go out however I checked the map and it was surging 7+ so I jumped in the car and headed to town. As soon as I entered the surge area it disappeared. Figured this was Uber's way of getting drivers out on the street even though there were little or any trip requests.
Yea next time, wait and see if you get a surge request from your house :)
I don't bother with the multiplier zones.
Every time I get into one I never - EVER - get a ping. I think I've probably gotten 2 actual 'surge' rides in the last 8 months, and that was being called into the zone from 10+ miles away. And they never went far (a mile or two) so I just don't bother.
If I hit a $6.25 surge area and the surge goes away, it still say $6.25 on next trip. How long will that last if I actually stay here all day because it's my house?
Hi Harry,Well its been about 6 weeks since I signed up for both Uber and Lyft, and have nearly 100 rides on both platforms. Crazy thing is! Same happy, freshly showered, pleasant driver, and same washed daily ford explorer! and get this!!! my rating with Lyft is 4.90, and hanging on to Uber with a 4.71. What is up with Uber passengers nose diving my rating?
I work part time, so am not tired when driving. I have made around 2,000 and really only work very part time, maybe 24 rides per week between the two platforms.
when my uber rating fell below 4.75, the hourly guarantee went away, by the way.
That's frustrating, not sure exactly why but we've got some more tips on ratings here: therideshareguy.com/category/ratings/
I'd try to focus on navigation and also you can try rating the pax 5 stars before they get out so they see you rating them, I think that makes it harder for the pax to rate you lower :)
I have a 4.98 on Uber and 68% of my passengers rate me. This is because I give each and every customer the genuine sense that I care about them.
surge is created when more passengers than drivers within a predetermined radius have opened and are looking at the app. This means surge can and at times does exist without seeing even 1 request .
Regards
MalibuGary-
just started and my Cover zone is Gary Indiana but there are NO ppl at all out here...
I just sat in a surge area for over 45 minutes. Didn't get a ride. I got delivery rides all night. Some good delivery surge rides too. But no regular rides. I didnt see if there were other drivers...but it was downtown...so it makes no sense.
Do you drive Uber full time? I'm just learning about Uber and thinking about using it for a ride in the future instead of a taxi. It sounds like such a great idea.
I actually am a part time driver and run the blog, podcast and youtube channel full time :) Yea most people love it compared to a taxi, make sure you get your first ride free too! therideshareguy.com/passenger/uber
The Rideshare Guy Thanks. I already have it on my phone and registered and have my free ride. Just need to use it lol :)
I had people place their pin just outside a surge area and then ask me pick up at their actual location inside the Surge area. The worst was a guy at the airport put his pin outside the airport and asked me to pick up at the terminal!
Well Uber uses a honeycomb pattern now in most cities so if they place it just outside surge, it should only be .1 or .2 lower: ua-cam.com/video/WzIgIX8rbwg/v-deo.html
Hi actually I have recently started Uber and I have never got the surge pricing the request I get, all driver knows when the surge is on that whether this call is surge or not because it shows with the request that if the request is for 1.3 or --- but I have never seen that with my request even though the call is surge, can you please help thanks
Can you wait for a ping when you are online from inside your house provided you are less than 30 feet from your car? It's been 100 degrees on the east coast this weekend and I had planned to drive today but couldnt stand wasting gas parked in an air-conditioned car or waiting outside in my car w/o the air on and dying!
Yea for sure! Just be ready to go if you get called, the app doesn't have to know you're inside vs. in your car :)
I live 2 miles from a local university and make pit stops at my house all the time. I get pings often from the college and just jump in and head over. My family has gotten used to me jumping up and leaving suddenly! Lol
Hey Man, any Idea on how I can find out what the rates for New York State are going to be? I doubt they are going to he as high as NYC. Thanks
Try this: www.uber.com/fare-estimate/
I don't understand why there would be a surge if there are no drivers and no passengers requesting a ride at the same time. shouldn't that area of the map stay blank? I would think a surge can only occur if there's at least one passenger requesting a ride while there are no drivers in the area.
No since surge is a combo of driver supply and pax demand. Both can cause surge independently or together. So if there are no drivers, that could cause a small surge. If there are also lots of pax requests coming in and only a few drivers, that would mean even higher surge!
In numerous cases I get a ride in the middle of a surge and get a ride with no surge rate. Happens quite a bit recently.
Yea I know what you mean..
Uber and Lyft have some very smart programmers working for them. Their computers are looking at specific geographic areas every second. They know from historical data what demand should be at any point in time at any location. They are looking ahead. If they detect an area that typically has high demand at, let's say, 1:00 AM they post the surge for that location. The purpose of that posting is to entice drivers to migrate to that area. As soon as enough drivers take the "bait" and the computer thinks there is enough supply to meet demand the surge goes away. They do this because they don't want riders to be unable to get a driver in a reasonable amount of time. Of course, there are times they don't get enough drivers and the surge stays in place and you make some extra money. But there is no guarantee that you will get that surge ride.
They are basically covering their own ass to make sure they have enough supply (drivers) to meet demand (computer determined expected demand). Other times you will drive to a surge area and get a ping outside of the surge area. Uber now says that if that happens you will get the surge pricing on your next ride. It's all a game of probabilities with the number being constantly being crunched by their computers.
is it possible that poor cellphone receptions, let's say I have only one signal bar could i effect you getting a ping and missing the surge?
Yea it definitely could, not a whole lot you can do about it though other than have good service and try to wait in an area with good service :)
Riders are getting more knowledgable about surges and wait until it goes lower. It's basically a surge auction. Drivers go offline to increase the surge. Riders wait until the surge drops. At some point in the middle an agreed surge level is reached and a request is made and accepted.
Don't think so - Uber actually implemented upfront pricing so riders don't even see the actual surge amount anymore, only the total price.
+The Rideshare Guy looks like upfront pricing hasn't been implemented in Australia
do you get paid for surge if you in the surge area when you get the request or you pick up in the surge area
You get paid surge if the passenger requests a ride in a surge area.
It happens to me all the time with Lyft
I dont believe its a surge, I think alot of rides are not being picked up because they are bad pay. So they get more drivers to come to a area with the idea they are going to get a simple 3 dollar surge and still get those requests that are for all the rides 30 miles away for 3 dollars more.
Hey Rideshare Guy,
I am really struggling with an Uber issue. Uber just came to Montana, where I am at. I signed up and got approved to drive. But after my first 5 star drive--nothing. I do not show up on the maps, when I looked as an uber passenger. I have even tried booking from a friends phone(who was standing next to me) and I was not chosen as a driver. It is l;ike I do not exist in the Uber app. It is the uber X , but on the dashboard it says *Uber X College Test* Additionally, from another friends phone it said, "No cars available", even though I am online. I live in a fairly small college town, so that made no sense. It is super frustrating, and I have not gotten any response from customer support. Do you have any recommendations or advice on what could be happening?
It sounds like you are classified under some variation of UberX. I'd e-mail support@uber.com and ask them to look into it.
I'm at the airport lot waiting for 45 minutes and everyone else that has been here after me has been called
We get false surges all the time in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania! I think it is because of to many people on the passenger app.
Yea possibly people going on but then not requesting a ride..
This morning I was the only driver and they qued me for 8 rides and there was no surge.
Or Uber is actually selecting which drivers will get ride hits. I've been in the middle of rush hour for three days straight when rides are high everyday between 3:30-8. When my promo or guarantee is happening, I get no hits for rides--this doesn't happen when I'm not on promo or guarantee.
Also, you have to accept every single ride if you're on a promo or guarantee or you won't get it because of low acceptance rate.
My theory is that Uber is using the information given by competitors and routine practices of their drivers to decide whether or not to give drivers rides during promo and guarantees so they won't have to pay out but keep drivers out driving for longer periods of time that may not peak so they don't feel like their time was totally wasted. Why else would rides slow to one or none when they have a promo or guarantee during normal high rate times?
Looks like a rip off and the promos and guaranteed are misleading. There must be cyber law/business law breaches going on.
Yea there are some theories that they are prioritizing pings: therideshareguy.com/how-can-wage-theft-emerge-in-app-mediated-work/
Rob Koch i wouldn't take the acceptance rate too seriously
The Rideshare Guy I can tell you more about it.
I drive in London. I started last September and I decided to start off with a rented vehicle from a rental company that is endorsed on the uber official website, from which, I suppose, uber gets a cut for every driver they send to them. The first week was great. Second week I decided to swap the vehicle from uberX to a 7 seater UberXL. Still fine. Then I decided to buy my own vehicle and then the workload dropped quite noticeably.
Please someone tell me, is that a conspiracy theory or conspiracy practice?
yeah, I noticed the same thing starting back in December... I wrote them, and of course they gave me the runaround. missed some bonuses by 1 or 2 rides, and some of them was their fault, due to app glitches.
jke387 maybe it's based on ratings..?
#rideshareguy I have been doing uber for 5 days now, how do you know how far the ride that is showing on the app is and its now on the surge area without canceling???
You don't know, they don't tell you which kinda sucks ! Once you unlock uber gold it just tells you what direction they are headed, I'm on my sixth week ubering now and it's pretty cool I like doing it.
@@phillip1489 hey good job Philip, you found one of my first messages I posted back when I first started doing Uber
I stopped chasing surges, I used to monitor when are where the surges happened. 99% of the time I would get there before the surge hit and would sit there as it grows, yet there are no other drivers and the town is a ghost town.
Yea it's just not worth it: maximumridesharingprofits.com/advice-new-uber-drivers-dont-chase-surge/
i believe uber pumps up the ride requests for the newbies. I have seen several new drivers get a ride request when they are a block down the street and they drive BYE ME on their way. And before anyone says there is a delay in the passenger app I am talking about someone who has been sitting for a while.
I have noticed that lately. I was always under the assumption that the driver thats in the closest radius gets the ride. I know that VIP drivers will get requests before regular drivers get a chance.
Blix Dunn I'm a new driver and my app beeps non stop and everyone else just sits waiting for a ping. In the passenger app there's tens of cars around where the ping came from, and yet I get the request and I'm miles away.
What is the best car lease deal for drivers?... Also just found out that most insurance companies request commercial car insurance to be a driver or consequences might not be so good.... hmmmmmm.
Here are some leasing options: therideshareguy.com/uber-vehicle-marketplace/
And you don't need CI but it is smart to get rideshare insurance: therideshareguy.com/rideshare-insurance-options-for-drivers/
Toyota Carolla, Toyota camery, Toyota........
UBER and LYFT drivers are statutory employees not independent contractors. Go to irs.gov pull up publication 17 and go to worker classification and look at the difference between what is a contractor and what is a statutory employee after that pull up SS - 88 form fill it out and send it to the IRS so that way you will finally be recognized as a statutory employee and become entitled to benefits
Very interesting can you elaborate on how this works. Seems like to kuch of a gem that your the only person to even mention it on the internet
It's surging and you're not getting requests cause passengers have gotten smarter.... they turn on their app and wait it out 'till it ends before ordering you. You're welcome.
uber should be eating the cost, not the customers. Surging gets riders in to make THEM money. Putting it on the customers so that they try to avoid surges completely defeats the purpose.
It could be a lot of things...
From a customer's point of view, you might look too scruffy...or you might have the wrong kind of vehicle...
Maybe there are three potential customers who all weigh over 250 lbs and you're driving a Prius...big people hate riding in dinky cars...
Or a customer has a 20-mile trip and doesn't want to get bounced around in the back of a Corolla. Three miles, fine. Over that and they want a bigger car. Especially on a bumpy freeway over 60 mph.
Or the algorithms. If you score high, you get first dibs. But if you have a low rating; bounce back and forth between platforms; have a low tip total; got a few complaints, guess what? You go to the back of the queue.
But mostly I think it's a matter of personal appearance and the type of vehicle you have.
I wouldn't recommend cancelling on passengers or doing ACRO (Accept, then Cancel for the Reason use Other). Uber's threshold for warnings and deactivation is relatively low at just 6%. You should simply not accept the ping if you don't want to take the rider. Uber no longer deactivate drivers for their acceptance rate, they will certainly deactivate you for cancellations. Drivers need to be aware the reason you can also get pulled outside a surge zone and it be a far away location is because other drivers are Ping passing the trash to you. Most drivers like myself won't take a non surge fare when I'm in a surge zone, let alone a request that is 10mins or greater away. Drivers should also know that Surge isn't just about drivers, you must also have passengers with the application open looking for rides and requesting them. Simply put, Surge will not activate simply because there are no drivers. Many times I will go to the map at 3:45AM and it will state, "No UberX, Uber Select, Uber XL, Uber SUV" etc available. Yet there is no surge. This is because like Ride share guy said, the algorithm has very dynamic and requires certain variables to match.
Not sure where you got the 6% number from but you're right, you do want to 'save your cancel's for the times that matter, ie collecting cancellation fees :)
The Rideshare Guy right. but those cancellations count against you, right? Yesterday the rider called and requested I cancel for them. so I did. and I got the fee. but it also showed up on my history is a cancellation. as if it's my fault the rider canceled.
Why should we have to conjecture on what is happening, on this issue and many other issues? It is ridiculous that uber acts in such secrecy. We can probably surmise that If they were above board, there would be more transparency.
Surge is a silly policy. Smooth out rates so revenue and earnings will work out over a year. They could have weekend and evening rates, but this system is causing many drivers to chase and get into bad habits. It also may punish drivers who just go out and work, accepting the trips as they come. It rewards the players who turn off their app and wait around for a surge before they turn it back on. It rewards shady behavior.
what am i missing? why do drivers continue to drive for uber over lyft?
Uber still has most of the customer base - although there's more Lyft riders every day lately!
The Rideshare Guy I've always made more with lyft
Nunya Business
Because Lyft gives me 75% of the ride and Uber gives me 80%.
watch seatbelts multitask on UA-cam
Will uber deactive you for declining non surge while it's surge?
No, although if you decline too many in a row, Uber may put you in a "time out" for a few minutes.
Mathematically, if there aren't any requests, there can't possibly a low supply of drivers.
If there are no ride requests, any supply becomes a surplus supply.
I call BS on this theory.
Huh? If you're in the middle of LA and there are normally 50 drivers online at 4 pm and there are only 25 drivers online, that would be a low supply..
Couldn't agree more. Ive been in towns that surge high at night, yet the stores are closed and no houses have any lights on. My theory is Uber sees a busy area and they wait til it dies out and then puts up a surge.
+The Rideshare Guy it's not a low supply. Lower than typical, sure, but not a low supply. Because there are no requests, any number of drivers (25, 50, 4) then becomes a surplus.
There are more drivers than requests. That's a surplus. There's literally no other way to see that.
Slow day, slow time, slow area, sure.... But not a low supply. If the number of drivers doesn't change, and demand goes down, then any...ANY supply you have becomes a surplus.
Again, math doesn't work out.
More believable to just say uber wants more money and strategically floods the market with false surges to get drivers out on the road. More drivers = less time = uber is the fastest company = people will choose uber more than lyft or some alternative. They're trying to beat out competition by having faster driver arrival times.
Using the drivers like pawns to do so.
Exactly. But ever since I had my account switched to only accept UberBlack and UberSUV I haven't had any surge issues.
#NEVER CHASE THE SURGE
u mean why it is surging
no
That is the dumbest thing I have ever heard. The word SURGE means an overabundance in a short amount of time. It's impossible for a surge to happen when there are no Rider requests. Otherwise it wouldn't be called a surge.
It's time for the purge of uber! I drive for lyft only now!