UberX Singapore moves to flat fare

[dajop]

As of this month, UberX booked in Singapore has moved to flat fare. When you "Set pick up location" you have to enter your destination as well, and it then calculates the fare based on current demand, distance and anticipated traffic. Then you can select "uberX" fare or "uberPOOL" fare (where you share the ride). It does away with surge pricing, but it does say if fare is higher due to increased demand, and if you are regularly travelling a route then you soon work out if it is being surge priced or not.

I think this is in response to Grab (another ride share operator), which campaign strongly on the idea that you know what you will pay before you get into the car.

Not sure where else they operate this model, doesn't seem to be the case in Australia, yet.

 

[moa999]

Interesting - not sure of I like it from a tourist perspective where you wouldn't know the usual fare

 

[Boris spatsky]

Hmm i used uberx from clarke quay last week and it was 1.7 for the surge. But it was 2 am on a saturday morning and the taxi queue was massive

 

[Bolthead]

As of this month, UberX booked in Singapore has moved to flat fare. When you "Set pick up location" you have to enter your destination as well, and it then calculates the fare based on current demand, distance and anticipated traffic. Then you can select "uberX" fare or "uberPOOL" fare (where you share the ride). It does away with surge pricing, but it does say if fare is higher due to increased demand, and if you are regularly travelling a route then you soon work out if it is being surge priced or not.

I think this is in response to Grab (another ride share operator), which campaign strongly on the idea that you know what you will pay before you get into the car.

Not sure where else they operate this model, doesn't seem to be the case in Australia, yet.

They are trialling all sorts of things in the USA. Mostly negative reports to date. As well in the USA they have all sorts of different types of Uber from UberX, Uberpool, Uber XL, UberSelect etal. The latter two are being trialled here in Australia now. UberPool has a lot of resistance in the states. They are also trialling $2 flat rate fares if you pay Uber in advance in about 6 cities however the drivers are getting their normal rate.

The problem with having a fixed fare is that the passengers occasionally want to change the destination from the original one. For example a while back I picked up a chap at Gymea. He then requested to go to South Hurstville to pick up some friends on the way. They in turn requested to go to Penshurst to buy a wedding gift. We finally made it to Leichhardt the final destination. Very good fare in the end but if had had driven directly from Gymea to Leichhardt the fare is approx. $50. As it was it came closer to $75.

 

[Bolthead]

Interesting - not sure of I like it from a tourist perspective where you wouldn't know the usual fare

Bare in mind you can always get a fare estimate here in Oz but what your saying make sense. What I find amazing is that the one app does the whole world. It changes from country to country, state to state and even town to town in some cases.

 

[moa999]

Agree - Uber is a great app.

My other great Global App which has just added Sydney/Melbourne public transport is CityMapper