> The whole surge pricing thing was pretty innovative.
The innovation is in having a flexible workforce. Surge pricing is mostly price gouging. Having plenty of passengers wanting to go places is incentive enough to get extra drivers on the road.
There are lots of people wanting rides on New Year's Eve, their aren't remotely enough drivers to take them and without surge pricing there would be even fewer. Supply/demand isn't unethical, it's reality.
It is, but most cases of "price gouging" are the same. Uber's great innovation (if that's the word) was a willingness to actually vary their prices in this way.
The not-a-taxi company's price structure is perverse. During non-surge times, the fare received barely covers the driver's costs. When the mileage to get to the pickup address is included in the calculation, all those drivers are basically working for free.
I've met a few 'ride share' drivers who only go out during the times they can expect to get a surge fare. One of them had graduated from an engineering program, and lived in Pittsburgh...
The innovation is in having a flexible workforce. Surge pricing is mostly price gouging. Having plenty of passengers wanting to go places is incentive enough to get extra drivers on the road.