Uber drivers in Dallas noticed a big change to the surge pricing system: Surge dollar amounts are no longer visible on the map, and surges are no longer ‘sticky.’
Where’d the surge dollar amounts go?
Drivers also noticed that the exact surge amount isn’t displayed on the trip request screen, the Trip Radar screen, or the ride receipt.
“Your homescreen map has a new design combining Surge and Earnings heatmap showing you where earnings are estimated to be highest, all in one view.
Uber’s goal is to show one simple upfront payout number and one heatmap.
That means you won’t see the exact surge amount on the trip request and it isn’t a separate line item on trip receipts. Mystery surges!
Uber is still testing this new map and the changes have not rolled out nationwide.
April 2024 update: Surge amounts are back in some markets
Drivers in Texas reported that surge amounts are now back on the map. Instead of shaded areas that don’t say how much a surge will pay, the exact dollar amount of a surge is listed.
Uber added surge amounts back to the map in many markets
All of the changes to surge
These changes to surge are live in test markets:
- No more surge dollar amounts on the map
- The map displays color-coded clouds to indicate estimated earnings: “High” and “Very High” indicate a surge
- No surge dollar amount on the ride request
- No surge dollar amount on the trip receipt
- Rides with surge still include a surge icon
- No more “sticky” surge: You or the passenger must be inside the surge zone to earn the surge
The old surge map vs the new surge map
Goodbye exact info, hello vague labels
Notice the lack of exact surge amounts on the new map and vague demand indicators.
Colored areas indicate that surge pricing is active, with high demand in red and very high demand in purple. But you won’t know exactly how much the surge will be.
No more ‘sticky’ surge — Now you or the customer must be inside the surge zone
Under the former surge system, you could enter a surge zone to ‘pick up’ the surge. The surge bonus would apply to your next ride even if you left the surge area.
Under the new surge system, you or your passenger must be inside the surge zone for the surge to apply. That means you won’t be able to head over to a surge, pick it up, then leave to go to a new zone.
The announcement from Uber
No more exact surge amounts
This is (sort of) how surge used to work before sticky surge
These changes turn back the clock on surge, closer to how it used to work before sticky surge.
Before sticky surge, surge was a multiplier—not an exact dollar amount. The map showed a surge multiplier—like 1.5x, 2x, etc.
Ride requests showed the surge multiplier amount, and you only knew your exact surge earnings after a trip was over.
And before sticky surge, you or your customer had to be in the surge zone to earn a surge.
Is this change going nationwide?
Uber has not announced plans to roll out the new surge system to other cities, but these changes may appear soon in other cities.
Uber asked for feedback from drivers in the announcement, so they may tweak these changes or scrap them altogether.
Drivers react to the surge changes
No $ amount, no sticky surge, no breakdown on earnings, utter b******t!”
“This is ridiculous. Now they’re hiding everything from us and not showing us anything”
“I use the surge amount on the map to position myself after a break. Do they NOT want drivers to go where they are needed?”
“Yes! I noticed this in my market too. It’s so bad here I switched to Lyft”
“Surge was always a joke anyway, this really changes nothing”
Drivers don’t like to lose information and flexibility. Exact surge amounts took the guesswork and surprise out of surge, and sticky surge gave you the flexibility to leave a surge zone and keep the bonus.
Both felt like perks for drivers, so most won’t be happy to lose them.
Daniel says
I see the only upside to this. More surge (whatever it is…) and unlimited rides due to all the other drivers quitting. Personally I have always felt that I was definitely gaming the system a little bit even if the goal was to bring drivers to an area. I base almost all my driving strategy on surge. That’s fine. But they have a right to adjust things to equal out the results. I’ll try it and compare first before I say bye. I am just a part-time driver now.
Matt says
Uber is a social experiment anyway. Other new rideshare companies will consult them for advice and data based on these experiments. I used to think, when surging was $30+ over normal price, that people were out of their minds to pay that much for a ten minute ride. When I asked the surged rider how much they paid (when I was making 40$ on that same 8minute ride) and they’d say 8 bucks. Other times, I’d give someone a surged ride of $6 more than usual and not ask how much they paid but the rider would bring up how ridiculous the ride price was. So on smaller surges for the driver, the rider was paying 40-50$ for the same ride. As a social experiment that uses stars for ratings, a driver will be harsher on rating their annoying rider for less surge. But if Uber keeps the driver and consumer confused, it can show disparity. If a rider is paying 30$+ dollars over the typical amt they are more likely to give a bad rating for any small thing such as a question like “what brings you here to the islands”. The driver is less likely to go out of their way if that same ride has no surge attached. This is all about data collection for Uber, no doubt. I feel like we can run to the other green pasture but they will ultimately turn into Uber. I can understand why they do this as I used to drive solely to hit surges. Uber could probably see on my live time how many circles I made just to catch a surge number in an exact place. Every rideshare driver does this and only enhances their data to get rid of it. I am in the same boat with these “earning forecast” dollar signs which are complete trash. I loved meeting tourists but these days but I want to see a surge hitting before I turn on my app. Thank God I didn’t leave my day job thinking the money would stick around. Uber pulls the rug out pretty quick.
Z says
Here in Boston, we now have NO surge icons, just the silly (and fake) light blue “earning forecast” dollar signs.
I don’t get how they expect drivers to move toward a surge (or a “forecast”) to offer supply to the area when values aren’t shown. Unless they have plans to release more features around it in the coming weeks, it seems to me that drivers aren’t going to move at all now. But we shall see!
Does anyone have the link to the feedback survey?
Richard Binkus says
Again hurray for Uber and screw the driver. I am moving more to Lyft and will use any new rideshare service that treats drivers better. But all in all Uber does not care and I will not be at Ubers funeral
Jenn says
Same. I completely switched over to lyft. They even have better promotions. Uber charges more than lyft at least I know where I’m going and how much I’m making. It’s an insult to drivers. I’m on my own little Uber strike.
Vadim. says
Total nonsense Uber will lose what’s it’s built on the people that provide the rides.
blake says
They won’t unfortunately they have drivers signing up daily and then driverless cars will be replacement.
Sarah Ann Cole says
You guys really know who to lose drivers, 16,000 trips and now we say good bye.
Brion Bell says
Uber – a creative (VERY creative) staff of people who seek to extract every possible dollar away from the drivers of their rideshare company. We see that they rolled this feature out and 100% of the driver responses were negative. So what do they do? They implement it anyway. This is why companies go broke. They don’t take care of the people providing the product or service that they offer, and then waste precious fiscal resources on nonsense. So now, surge is a total mystery! Why? So that they can further hide the greater amounts that they are taking away from the driver! Two years ago, I was receiving at least 60% of the rider’s fare. Today, I’m lucky to get 30%! Pretty soon, we’ll have to work 12-hour shifts just to pay for the gas. Uber is crushing their very source of revenue and it will cost them in a very big way. There are other companies emerging that have a much better handle on how this can work profitably for both driver and platform. Uber will fail; and SOON!
Me: I will go back to guitar teaching and other things. I loved doing this because I love people and driving. But lately, Uber has been so stressful and lacking in support, that I must soon stop. I think there are a great many drivers that feel this way, but Uber refuses to respond in any meaningful way. This will probably be my last response to anything Uber sends out or does to further my pain.
Daniel Fleischman says
I could not agree more. They are not being transparent and this is truly wrong. Because of this I will be switching to Lyft. Why would I drive during peak hours if I do not see the rewards on the ticket or in the surge zone?