If you’re planning to use formerly controversial sedan service Uber to get around town for New Year’s Eve, be ready to pay up. In a video chat this afternoon, Uber CEO Travis Kalanick warned that minimum fares for Uber trips tonight, driven by surge pricing, could reach as high as $100.
Uber’s only raising its prices tonight to attract more sedan drivers who have other appealing New Year’s Eve options, according to Kalanick. The increased dynamic pricing can multiply the cost of an Uber trip by two, three, or even eight times, depending on how many cars are available.
The highest fees will likely come before and after midnight, with the minimum trip fee jumping form $15 to $100. “You’re going to pay $100 minimum just to get in the car,” says Kalanick. “Now remember, this is a limo on New Year’s Eve, that’s legit.”
To make sure that champagne-soaked customers see the higher fees, Uber is requiring a “sobriety test,” where customers type in the number their trip’s cost will be multiplied by (the point is the surcharge, not the sobriety). If the customer can’t type in the number, the sedan won’t be dispatched. “The sobriety test needs to be really, really easy, because you need to get all these drunk people home,” says Kalanick.
Sedan picture via Shutterstock