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Uber Lowers Prices in 100 Cities, but Not Philly
It's combating lower demand in the winter months.
Uber has announced that it’s lowering prices in 100 cities in the United States and Canada — but Philadelphia isn’t one of them.
A spokesman for the company declined to comment on why Philadelphia wasn’t included in the price drop. A quick check on the app reveals that prices are the same today as they were before the announcement. For UberX that’s a $1.25 base fare, plus $0.18 per minute, plus $1.10 per mile with a minimum fare of $5.25 and a safe rides fee of $1.25. For UberBLACK, it’s $7 plus total travel time with a $15 minimum fare.
Uber said in a blog post that it’s rolling back prices in many areas due to slower demand in the winter months.
“Seasonality affects every business, and Uber is no exception because when people hunker down at home, demand for rides drops,” the company said. “Fewer trips are tough on drivers, many of whom want to save money and pay off their holiday credit card bills now that January is here.”
So to boost demand, it’s cutting prices for riders.
But it doesn’t always work as planned. The company shared the example of Charlotte, where pricing had to be changed from a 40 percent price cut back to 29 percent — helping driver income grow by nearly 20 percent in 2015. In Seattle, it reversed price cuts entirely “when it became obvious that prices were already low enough.”
“While pricing is a science, every city is different: different economic circumstances; different regulations; different competition,” the company said in its blog post. “We’ve learned over the years that we do best when we test new things. With each new test—small or large—we learn more about the choices riders make, and how those choices impact earnings for drivers.”
