Los Angeles

“I Don't Like Doing This”: Uber Driver Claims Price War is Forcing Him to Game the System

The man, who only wanted to be identified as Brian, said a price war between Uber and rivals is shortchanging the operators.

The Uber driver who uploaded a tutorial on how to cheat the system has claimed the company is forcing carriers to artificially jack up prices.

The man, who only wanted to be identified as Brian, said a price war between Uber and rivals is shortchanging the operators.

He said he posted the video on a drivers forum, in which he encouraged others to get "on the surge bus" by repeatedly canceling fares to drive up prices, is a "direct relation" to fees being dropped to 90 cents per mile in Los Angeles.

"I don't like doing this, I don't like canceling 50 rides in a day," Brian said. "All we want to do is give people rides make some money and be with our families. With Uber constantly cutting rates they make it difficult to do that."

Uber uses a computerized algorithm to quickly increase prices in response to changes of supply and demand in the market.

In theory it should attract more drivers during times of increased demand, while also reducing demand. Customers are notified when making a reservation if prices have gone up.

Brian denies his method of repeatedly canceling pickups is price manipulation.

"We as drivers, we don't control the algorithm we don't control when the surge goes up," Brian said.

He also thinks Uber is out of line by saying drivers should not be following his method, claiming other drivers are doing much the same thing by waiting for a surge before going online to accept customers.

"We have a choice, we as business operators should have choice in how we operate our vehicle," he said.

Uber has insisted there are safeguards in place to protect customers from profiteers, though it would not comment on how Brian will be dealt with.

“Consistently canceling rides in an effort to manipulate the app or discriminate against riders is in violation of the contract that driver partners sign," Uber spokeswoman Taylor Patterson said. "Driver partners who do this may be deactivated from the system."

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