I don’t like Uber very much. Well, not anymore. The first time I heard of them was right at the inception of the service in San Francisco. I didn’t even live in the city at the time but I had heard good feedback from gay, queers and transgender people that Uber was, if not a solution, at least a positive change for them. Because it was (and still is) a luxury service that was made available at the tip of everyone’s fingers – “everyone’s private driver”. To groups that are frequently victims of discrimination and violence, Uber was a guaranteed way to be picked up anywhere at any time, hence limiting the time you would normally spend trying to hail a cab in an unknown neighborhood.
My esteem for Uber has gone downhill from there: misogynistic ads, open threats to journalists and shady business practices in cities like Portland are just few of the many ways in which Uber is routinely operating these days. That’s not even to mention creepy or outright violent drivers. It’s really hard (or not) to believe a company valued at $40B could operate in such a fashion. Uber has become the symbol of how businesses that call themselves ‘disruptive’ end up being more abject than the ones they are supposed to replace.
This morning, I woke up to the news that Sydney was in practical lockdown due to a hostage situation in the CBD. The news was heavily discussed and spread on Twitter. And on more than one occasion, people in my timeline were retweeting a screenshot of the Uber app showing a surge pricing in effect at 4x.
This is more than just about supply and demand. Sure, there probably wasn’t a lot of drivers willing to be driving around Sydney CBD – which is likely why the surge kicked in.
On the other hand, if your contingency plan during a hostage crisis is to expect Uber to pick you up and drive you to safety, I just don’t know what to say. In now way should Uber be responsible for the safety of anyone because they’ve shown pretty badly how much they suck at it. It’s irresponsible to hold them to such a standard when they not only have no duty to act in such a capacity, but also when they have demonstrably failed to ensure the basic safety of users.
If you feel unsafe and want to be evacuated, call the police. Granted, they were probably busy with other things in Sydney this morning but, you know, life’s tough. If you have time to complain about surge pricing on social media, your life was not in immediate danger – and it’s a shame to put your discomfort of having to walk on an equal standing to the suffering of the people who were directly involved in this morning’s events.
What should Uber have done? Prevent the surge, block multiplier at 1x to deter drivers from driving and make room for actual emergency services where they were most needed. Yes, they should be ready to respond to such situations very fast and it looks like they didn’t. Ultimately, the damage is purely on Uber’s side and it’s primarily a PR issue. So, unless your job is head of the comms team at Uber, there’s absolutely no reason to be angry about what just happened – and the same could be said about most times people are outraged regarding surge pricing.