If there are a hundred people wanting a ride, and only five cars on the road, of course there's going to be a delay in the regular course of things.
It's a matter of paying to go to the head of the line.
Incidentally, Uber works out the surge by comparing the number of Ubers in an area, and the number of people who have the rider app open at that point. If everyone just closed the app and waited a bit, the surge would go away.
Alternatively, the surge is shown on the driver app, and of course drivers head that way in the hopes of scoring some easy bucks. So the surge will disappear as they enter the area. Leading to some disgruntled drivers and relieved riders.
It's usually just a matter of being patient, or gritting your teeth if you really need to get somewhere and paying the price.