How does surge pricing work?

Surge pricing is Uber’s way of controlling supply and demand. Surge pricing happens when there is a high demand for Uber cars (ie: lots of riders are looking for a ride in the same area) and there are not enough drivers to satisfy all the riders.

Surge pricing fixes this excess demand this by applying a multiplier on every fare, therefore raising their prices certain percentages. Some riders will opt to not pay the higher fare making more Uber cars available for those passengers who are willing to pay the surge. Surge pricing can happen at any point but it is most common during rush hour, bad weather, holidays, and weekends.

To learn more about surge pricing view our recent blog post.

lilly 1026

RideGuru market data & operations expert