
‘I nearly passed out’: A $640 Uber ride for a 30-mile trip to the airport - aburan28
https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/trafficandcommuting/i-nearly-passed-out-a-640-uber-ride-for-a-30-mile-trip-to-the-airport/2016/01/26/c45024ac-c469-11e5-8965-0607e0e265ce_story.html
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JohnTHaller
I haven't used Uber or Lyft in a while. If it's the same now as then, both
apps seemed to make it purposely difficult to estimate what you were paying
ahead of time, burying their estimator in multiple menus and including
multiple warnings of it being inaccurate. Plus, not including surge pricing in
the estimator. It was basically impossible to tell the app "I'm here and going
there, about how much will it cost" and get any sort of straight answer. Has
that changed more recently?

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SilasX
Hm, my experience is different now; they both seem to make the button
prominent at the time of the request confirmation.

However, on Lyft, I remember being unable to get a fare estimate after I
confirmed the request, which would potentially give someone a chance to be
shocked and back out early.

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jnevill
tl;dr: Bonnie ordered an Uber SUV and is bad at math.

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SilasX
I don't think you can dismiss UX attempts to discourage checking the total
fare estimate as "being bad at math". Yes, someone can work out the logical
implications of various alerts, but no, human psychology doesn't always do
this quickly or in a way that reaches a reflective equilibrium.

With that said, this is Uber SUV, with a $14 base fare[1], during a confirmed
4.4x surge, which really should alert the user to get an estimate.

[1] [https://www.uber.com/cities/washington-
dc](https://www.uber.com/cities/washington-dc)

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WalterSear
Supercilious wastrel.

