Cars drive on a Manhattan Street in heavy snow on January 26, 2015 in New York City. Spencer Platt/Getty Images
A “potentially historic” snowstorm just hit the Northeast coast, and it’s expected to affect more than 40 million people, dumping up to three feet of snow in places. But it’s also a chance for Uber to make nice with the critics.
On Monday, with an email sent to the press, the San Francisco ride-hailing startup said it would limit prices during the storm, following a policy developed with New York Attorney General Schneiderman last year. In the email, the company said prices would not exceed 2.8-times the normal fare, and that all proceeds would be donated to the American Red Cross to support relief efforts.
In a separate release, Schneiderman issued a warning shot against possible price gouging during the storm.
Typically, Uber imposes what’s called surge pricing during times of peak demand or short supply. It’s an automated process that the company paints as a way to get more drivers on the road during critical times. But many have criticized the practice, saying it exploits crises for profit.
Most recently, users protested Uber’s surge pricing during Sydney’s hostage crisis this past December, in which passengers saw a minimum of $100 for a ride, four times the normal fare. And similar complaints popped up another snowstorm last year and during Hurricane Sandy in 2012.
Uber is particularly primed to mollify the critics this time around, because it spent the past several months dealing with all sorts of other bad press, lawsuits, and clashes with regulators across the U.S. as well as overseas. The cap is certainly nice to see. But people are still finding things to complain about.
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