Re:The Effects of Uber's Surge Pricing: A Case Study [pdf]
by hoopd on Thursday September 17, 2015 @11:03PM
(#10237292)
Your critique fails because taxi companies and Uber have wildly different cost and operational structures. Clearly Uber is turning a healthy profit.
I agree that stable prices are important for public transportation and that people like them, but stable prices require regulation or an extremely healthy market. In this case we're seeing a change of regulatory powers.
Re:The Effects of Uber's Surge Pricing: A Case Study [pdf]
by 1024core on Friday September 18, 2015 @12:57AM
(#10237538)
> Clearly Uber is turning a healthy profit.
Not really. They're losing money: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-06-30/uber-bonds...
The benefit of Uber setting the price is that it makes the marketplace more reliable. And it's set at a level where both drivers and riders are happy. If Uber moves to a more dynamic pricing model, it makes it a lot more unpredictable and more complex. Maybe this will be the next step they take, but so far, I think everyone likes the predictability of the timeliness as well as the price.