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The ABC7 television channel in Arlington, Va., Released a special report in May on how local Uber drivers manipulated the Uber app near Reagan National Airport to artificially create weather events. "Surge", in which carpooling spontaneously increases due to lack of driver supply. A second report released this week says more drivers from across the country have come forward to share similar stories of organized carpool ticket price manipulation.
The reports explain that drivers manipulate fares by disabling their ridesharing apps at the same time – a collective effort that reduces the supply when the demand at the airport is high. When applications are reactivated, drivers all get a price increase on ridesharing apps like Uber and Lyft. Drivers say that they can time that correctly by knowing when flights are coming in, according to reports.
ABC7 says the drivers they talked to publicly revealed the technique for the first time; According to the new report, other drivers in the country are dissatisfied with the secret. In a Uber thread on Reddit, commentators say that "Surge Club" looks like "Fight Club", which means that the first rule is not to talk about it.
Uber sent ABC7 a statement saying it "took steps to combat fraudulent behavior (…) .This behavior could result in a dismissal." The company also said that it was also difficult to decipher what constituted a natural price spike and manipulation. .
Uber, of course, has an irony about what Uber says: in general, the company and its opaque algorithms control driver salaries and outbreak frequency, and society can manipulate its own rules as many times as it wants . gets angry when drivers, the backbone of society, try to do the same thing on their own terms through solidarity action.
ABC7 stated that they found no evidence of what was happening at the two other major airports in the Washington DC area, Dulles International Airport and Baltimore-Washington International Airport.
Some experts tell Salon that this idea is not surprising given the few drivers they earn.
"While it's hard to prove that drivers are intentionally manipulating the app to take advantage of price increases, it's no wonder they do it," Salon Maria said. Figueroa, Director of Labor and Policy Research at The Worker Institute of Cornell ILR School, by e-mail. "Based on the results of our research on platform pilots in New York, the application rates are not high enough to allow drivers to generate sufficient revenue after covering all their expenses. "
Figueroa said the lack of transparency is one of the main complaints of drivers, who sometimes claim that Uber and Lyft companies can manipulate the platform to cut drivers' wages.
"It's possible to manipulate the application to trigger price increases," Figueroa said. "The price rise occurs when the supply of drivers is low or when the demand for driving is very strong. Thus, workers can reduce the number of drivers by disabling applications. When price increases are triggered, they can reactivate it. "
Moira Muntz, a spokeswoman for The Independent Drivers Guild, told Salon that the whole thing is that drivers do not pay enough.
"Drivers in the country have pay problems with wages often well below the minimum wage, while utility companies charge everything they want and pocket the difference," said Muntz. "Drivers using an app in Washington DC earn as little as $ 5 an hour, well below the minimum wage."
Muntz said that these companies often overload users, underpay drivers and pocket the difference.
"They are extracting this hard-earned money from our communities to benefit wealthy investors," said Muntz. "Drivers and riders must organize to pass a law that makes this sector fair for all by imposing a fair pay for drivers and limiting commissions on applications charged to runners."
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