

Uber Free Rides During the Sydney Siege - jweir
http://blog.uber.com/sydneysiege

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chetanahuja
The original surge pricing was the latest piece of evidence that there's
probably no adult human making the calls at the top. The rightful horror
expressed in the initial media coverage would have been obvious to almost any
actual adult participating in normal human society on a day-to-day basis.

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walterbell
High prices (algo or otherwise) have the side effect of generating at least
two surges of news articles - one for the price surge and one for the human
intervention to reduce pricing. By now, this must be a well-honed skill.

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chetanahuja
You seem to be implying that Uber _wants_ news coverage of it's surge pricing
during every humanitarian crisis. To me it sounds like a surefire way for
activists to push for laws banning the practice of surge pricing (more
normally known as profiteering or price-gouging in a crisis).

~~~
walterbell
Have activists been successful in changing Uber policies? Activists and irate
taxi drivers generate even more news stories, i.e. more free coverage and
watercooler talk for each Uber launch.

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chetanahuja
Perhaps you've not been following the news lately.
[https://www.google.com/search?q=uber+bans&oq=uber+bans](https://www.google.com/search?q=uber+bans&oq=uber+bans)

~~~
walterbell
One could argue that those events have not changed _Uber_ policy, except for
conciliatory blog posts.

Uber, in their infinite wisdom, have chosen to lobby for legal changes in the
court of public opinion, rather than working directly with regulators. Such an
approach requires maximum public visibility to gain new riders before the
service is shut down, in order to garner public support for reversal of court
rulings.

This playbook has been consistently applied in many cities globally. Cities
and activists need to develop defensive strategies which do not play directly
into Uber's campaign for maximum public visibility.

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mhomde
Quick nice reaction from Uber, the PR was really starting to turn against them
with surge pricing making it cost 100 AUS to get the hell out of dodge

BTW,seeing the situation unfold is Sydney is insane. Been at that café and
have friends working a block away

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greenyoda
Apparently, their surge pricing, as reported earlier, was generating too much
bad PR for them:

[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8750431](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8750431)

