An Uber expensive ride
Riders who used the popular car ride company, Uber, saw a spike in the prices last weekend.
But, this wasn’t just a few extra bucks per block. In some areas, the cost was up to seven times the regular price. Uber and other companies say this surge in pricing was because of inclimate weather, specifically on the East Coast, leading to a higher demand for the service.
“I think it makes very good, presitine, economic, logical sense,” says Harvard Business Professor Nancy Koehn, “but a minimum ride costs $175 in New York last weekend.”
Koehn says consumers have seen prices flucuate when something is in high-demand, but generally the public has more power in determining that price.
“Here, Uber has all the power,” says Koehn, “…I think that’s where the insult to fairness and where the upset about flucuation comes.”
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