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A comment on Uber's "Route-Based Pricing" Predicts How Much You're Willing to Pay. Parent comment

Re:Uber's "Route-Based Pricing" Predicts How Much You're Wil... by sebleon on Friday May 19, 2017 @05:42PM (#14379556)
Interesting, I hadn't heard that defense before. It seems like Uber's app-based hailing is the reason why poor neighborhoods are able to get serviced.

Previously, no taxi driver would drive around in those areas - because of opportunity cost of higher fares in richer areas, and fears of getting robbed when there was tons of cash in the car.

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Re:Uber's "Route-Based Pricing" Predicts How Much You're Wil... by objclxt on Friday May 19, 2017 @06:12PM (#14379725)
> Previously, no taxi driver would drive around in those areas - because of opportunity cost of higher fares in richer areas

Well, if Uber is using dynamic pricing to ensure fares from richer areas are more expensive than those from poorer ones won't that have the exact same effect?

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Re:Uber's "Route-Based Pricing" Predicts How Much You're Wil... by erikpukinskis on Saturday May 20, 2017 @12:17AM (#14381009)
No, because Uber publishes all of the ride requests, regardless of fare. As long as there is one driver willing to go there, the ride gets fulfilled.

If you are leaving drivers to their own devices to try to find hot spots, they have no way to know someone ten blocks over needs a cab right now from a poorer area.

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Re:Uber's "Route-Based Pricing" Predicts How Much You're Wil... by wavefunction on Friday May 19, 2017 @05:46PM (#14379582)
Gypsy cabs exist for those reasons.
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