A New Bill Would Outlaw Uber Surge Pricing
Uber users know that the ridesharing app has a nasty little habit of getting much, much more expensive at the times when you most need a car, like, say, on a day where the temperatures feel like we’re on the planet Hoth and not New York City. Lawmakers in Albany must have also been burned while trying to get a ride back from a late-night karaoke session, because one of them has introduced a bill that would ban “surge pricing” from Uber and other apps.
Assemblyman Felix Ortiz, a Brooklyn Democrat, introduced the bill, which would fine services like Uber $250 for each surge pricing occurrence. “I understand that the mechanism here is that if you can afford it you pay for it, but I believe our role is to ensure we can protect the consumer,” Ortiz told Capital New York.
There’s already a cap in effect on surge pricing during emergencies, like the recent not-quite-world-ending-snowstorm, that limit the surge pricing to 2.8 times the normal fare. Which is still, to be honest, quite a lot.
Meanwhile, in the New York City Council, a measure was introduced to limit the ways that rideshare companies like Uber could use customer data in response to Uber New York City manager Jay Mohrer’s claims that he used the app to track a Buzzfeed journalist.