Uber drivers at CNS routinely cancelling rides to manipulate surge pricing

[NM]

I find it really depends on the location. For example, arrived into CNS and decided to use Uber. Booked and then driver assigned and soon cancelled. New driver assigned and then cancelled. happened three time and each time the price was going up - due to "high demand". Gave up and wandered back to the taxi rank and no wait at all and a very pleasant taxi driver. He explained that the Uber drivers often manipulate the surging at the airport in this way. Taxi ride was lower cost than the surging Uber price at that time.

Return to the airport and Uber drivers were unable to manipulate the surging and readily/quickly available. Got a very pleasant Uber driver who confirmed they never wait at the airport for inbound flights because a cartel of drivers try to make everyone play their game.

heading back to CNS soon. Will head straight to taxi rank. return to the airport will likely be Uber.

 

[anat0l]

I find it really depends on the location. For example, arrived into CNS and decided to use Uber. Booked and then driver assigned and soon cancelled. New driver assigned and then cancelled. happened three time and each time the price was going up - due to "high demand". Gave up and wandered back to the taxi rank and no wait at all and a very pleasant taxi driver. He explained that the Uber drivers often manipulate the surging at the airport in this way. Taxi ride was lower cost than the surging Uber price at that time.

Return to the airport and Uber drivers were unable to manipulate the surging and readily/quickly available. Got a very pleasant Uber driver who confirmed they never wait at the airport for inbound flights because a cartel of drivers try to make everyone play their game.

heading back to CNS soon. Will head straight to taxi rank. return to the airport will likely be Uber.

Very accurate observation about CNS; matches a lot of my experience. I stuck out for a fair fare on rideshare from CNS airport recently, and I eventually got one, but it took so long. It probably would have been easier to eat whatever "discount" Uber may have given over a taxi and just take the taxi.

One thing is that I've forgotten how to get a quick taxi estimate for fares since I've been so used to rideshare apps giving you that information in the app.

 

[Mattg]

I find it really depends on the location. For example, arrived into CNS and decided to use Uber. Booked and then driver assigned and soon cancelled. New driver assigned and then cancelled. happened three time and each time the price was going up - due to "high demand". Gave up and wandered back to the taxi rank and no wait at all and a very pleasant taxi driver. He explained that the Uber drivers often manipulate the surging at the airport in this way. Taxi ride was lower cost than the surging Uber price at that time.

Return to the airport and Uber drivers were unable to manipulate the surging and readily/quickly available. Got a very pleasant Uber driver who confirmed they never wait at the airport for inbound flights because a cartel of drivers try to make everyone play their game.

heading back to CNS soon. Will head straight to taxi rank. return to the airport will likely be Uber.

That's pretty bad re. Uber drivers manipulating the system at CNS. I wonder if Uber is aware of this and/or tried to crack down on it? IMHO Uber should ban drivers who do this systematically.

 

[kpc]

I find it really depends on the location. For example, arrived into CNS and decided to use Uber. Booked and then driver assigned and soon cancelled. New driver assigned and then cancelled. happened three time and each time the price was going up - due to "high demand". Gave up and wandered back to the taxi rank and no wait at all and a very pleasant taxi driver. He explained that the Uber drivers often manipulate the surging at the airport in this way. Taxi ride was lower cost than the surging Uber price at that time.

Return to the airport and Uber drivers were unable to manipulate the surging and readily/quickly available. Got a very pleasant Uber driver who confirmed they never wait at the airport for inbound flights because a cartel of drivers try to make everyone play their game.

heading back to CNS soon. Will head straight to taxi rank. return to the airport will likely be Uber.

When we arr in Cns last year to attend Ozfest, we tried Didi..haha...that didn't exist in Cns although the app suggested it did! We then tried Uber which had some ridiculously high surge pricing....we waited 15-20 mins and the price dropped significantly ($16.81 to Hilton -13 min ride ). No issues catching an Uber back to airport ($12.49 but we had some promo which gave us $8 of the ride -12 min ride).

 

[serfty]

That's pretty bad re. Uber drivers manipulating the system at CNS. I wonder if Uber is aware of this and/or tried to crack down on it? IMHO Uber should ban drivers who do this systematically.

It's UBER, taxi, or shuttle bus from Cairns. No other PT options unless you walk.

Ealier this month 8pm, Uber was $35, took taxi for $22.

Return next day was Uber for $15.

 

[Justinf]

When we arr in Cns last year to attend Ozfest, we tried Didi..haha...that didn't exist in Cns although the app suggested it did! We then tried Uber which had some ridiculously high surge pricing....we waited 15-20 mins and the price dropped significantly ($16.81 to Hilto ). No issues catching an Uber back to airport.

That’s usually the way.
Sometimes I will get quoted $120 for a 15km trip, but just wait five minutes and it goes back to the $35 it is meant to be.

 

[kevrosmith]

There is a Cairns Taxi app you can use to book a taxi in Cairns (doesn’t really apply at the airport though with the rank being there) but you can track the taxi assigned arriving and gives an estimate of fare value. Used to be able to pay through app, but they disabled that feature and not sure if it’s back

Apple Store version ‎Cairns Taxis Booking App

Not sure about Android sorry

 

[RealtimeY]

This is a phenomenon that happens quite often, not just at CNS. Often they’ll accept the ride and just never arrive to pick you up, forcing you to cancel first.

 

[anat0l]

There is a Cairns Taxi app you can use to book a taxi in Cairns (doesn’t really apply at the airport though with the rank being there) but you can track the taxi assigned arriving and gives an estimate of fare value. Used to be able to pay through app, but they disabled that feature and not sure if it’s back

Apple Store version ‎Cairns Taxis Booking App

Not sure about Android sorry

There is an Android version: Cairns Taxis – Apps on Google Play

Haven't tried it myself, but should be useful the next time I go to CNS.

This is a phenomenon that happens quite often, not just at CNS. Often they’ll accept the ride and just never arrive to pick you up, forcing you to cancel first.

True - it's happened quite a few times in Brisbane (not necessarily the airport... old taxi driver tricks in camping at the airport for jobs means there's rarely a job turned down when it's from the airport). Damn annoying really, but nothing much Uber will do about it, even if you report the driver.

It seems quite concentrated at Cairns and more particularly the airport. Usually, even if there are drivers playing that game, there are (in theory) a good decent number of others who aren't and will genuinely take your job and come to pick you up, viz. it shouldn't take 3 or more retries to get a genuine driver, particularly when an international flight has just arrived. It also doesn't make much sense to do the whole go around as Cairns airport and the city centre aren't terribly far apart unlike most other major Australian centres, and what would an Uber driver know anyway - they don't know where they are heading to until they have confirmed that the passenger has been picked up.

 

[VPS]

I wonder what would happen if you reported it

 

[Aeryn]

I can say I have had an issue with Uber at CNS domestic either arriving or departing. Apart from the pick-up spot being a bit of a walk from terminal, not far but not fun in the humidity.

Just looked at expense claim from conference in Cairns last year was $15.60 from CNS-Hotel and $13.71 from Hotel to CNS.

IMO drivers cancelling can happen whenever there is a surge or major traffic incident.

It can be worth using rome2Rio to get an estimate of what different transport modes should cost so you can spot the surge and choose another option.

 

[Quickstatus]

so you can spot the surge a

Doesn't Uber tell you when there is surge pricing

 

[Aeryn]

Doesn't Uber tell you when there is surge pricing

Not that I have noticed, it just tells you a price.

The huge surges you see after concerts or major traffic disruptions are bloody obvious. However on rides I take regularly at the same time of day the price can easily vary within $10 based on traffic without here being any formal surge.

If im going somewhere for the first time I like to research what a fare should be; so I can easily eyeball any uber surge or taxi driver shenanigans.

 

[anat0l]

Doesn't Uber tell you when there is surge pricing

Sort of.

If fares are surging, you'll see the higher fare, and there may be a small subtext that appears saying fares are currently higher due to demand.

What it doesn't tell you is what the fare would be if there were no surging (something that the first versions of the app did via a multiplier).

 

[sudoer]

Doesn't Uber tell you when there is surge pricing

Yes they do, although I don't think they use the term "surge" anymore. There's just a banner that reads something like "prices are higher than usual due to increased demand"

I wonder if Uber is aware of this and/or tried to crack down on it? IMHO Uber should ban drivers who do this systematically.

They already incentivise drivers not to cancel through Uber Pro which requires <3% cancellation rate. One of the key features of Uber Pro is being able to see trip duration and direction before accepting a job, but I guess this is more useful in big cities and less relevant in towns like Cairns, where jobs are unlikely to be longer than 20-30 min and the vast majority going to/from the airport. I don't know if Uber would cancel a driver's account completely if they had a ridiculously high cancellation rate - IMO they should!

 

[Quickstatus]

saying fares are currently higher due to demand.

That's the surge pricing indicator. Im happy to wait a bit for it to unsurge

 

[NM]

Looking back at CC statement, I can see that in my CNS example above, taxi from airport to hotel cost $21.21 (including airport charges and CC fees). I expect would have been less than $20 if paying cash. From memory, by third attempt to get an Uber, with the app showing car available in the airport waiting/holding area, quoted p[rice had surged to over $30.

Uber from same hotel to airport a few days later cost $18.12.

The no waiting/queuing to get a Taxi verses playing games or waiting for Uber pricing to return to normal means I'll just head straight to the taxi rank upon arrival at CNS next month (and have a $20 note ready to pay), and likely use Uber for return trip again.

 

[trisreed]

When we arr in Cns last year to attend Ozfest, we tried Didi..haha...that didn't exist in Cns although the app suggested it did! We then tried Uber which had some ridiculously high surge pricing....we waited 15-20 mins and the price dropped significantly ($16.81 to Hilton -13 min ride ). No issues catching an Uber back to airport ($12.49 but we had some promo which gave us $8 of the ride -12 min ride).

Didi does exist (or at least did in January when I was there) but for some reason has the airport blocked out with red hatching on the map - you cannot book a ride from there - perhaps they do not want to play in these shenanigans. I recall there being very few cars on the map though. I did consider walking over to Captain Cook Hwy until I realised there was an airport in the way.

Interestingly my Uber cost about the same both ways - just checked and it was $21 to the hotel and $19 back to the airport (may have had discounts) with both rides being around 4PM give or take. I think Didi was quoting about $12 with discounts from the highway. The Uber driver picking me up from the airport rang and begged me not to cancel - because according to him many people did not want to wait the 10 mins for someone to come from the 'city'? It was certainly the most bizarre rideshare experience I have had from an airport. The driver, once he arrived, was very friendly, however!