Advertisment

Uber testing route based pricing charging more for certain high-demand routes

author-image
CIOL Writers
New Update
Uber e

Just like any other cab-aggregator, Uber too charges on the basis of mileage, current traffic, the route taken and so on. Apparently, Uber is tweaking the process for some high-demand routes, where it charges certain users more depending upon where they are headed.

Advertisment

CIOL Machine learning tells how much a rider is willing to pay for the ride

According to reports in Bloomberg and Business Insider, the move is aimed at basically to get drivers onto those routes and reduce wait times for users. Speaking to BI, Daniel Graf, Uber's head of product said that the pricing move "creates more trips in the city." Further, "more trips in the city means less wait times and shorter pickups time for riders and drivers," he added.

Machine learning tells how much a rider is willing to pay for the ride

Advertisment

CIOL Machine learning tells how much a rider is willing to pay for the ride

Graf says that Uber is employing machine learning to know how much a rider can pay. Interestingly, one of the factors considered here is how posh or poor is your destination area. This means that if two users are travelling to two different locales- one plush up-market high-rise and other some small market yard, they will be charged differently even if demand, traffic and distance are the same.

Differential pricing but no increase in driver's pay

Advertisment

CIOL Uber testing route based pricing charging more for certain high-demand routes

Though the move is said to entice drivers to certain routes, ironically, drivers don't get anything in return. The differential pricing is pocketed not by its drivers but by Uber that uses it to pay for promotions, “such as dropping the price of an UberPool route from $10 to $8,” according to Business Insider. “Instead of drivers making less on the $8 fare cut, Uber will still pay them based on the $10 fare.”

Time is the factor not income

Advertisment

CIOL Uber testing route based pricing charging more for certain high-demand routes

Refuting charges that its segregating customers on the basis of rich and poor, Uber says that it's a time-driven technique i.e. "time-sensitive" UberX riders versus "price-sensitive" UberPool riders, Graf said.

Whatever be the case, but Uber has once again rubbed its drivers and passengers the wrong way adding to the spate of scandals and lawsuits that have rocked the ride-hailing company this year.

machine-learning uber