Uber and Lyft may both be laughing to the bank with the profits from surge pricing, but they're taking a moral loss today: the New York Times is reporting that the Better Business Bureau has handed down F ratings for both hail-a-ride companies, mostly on account of the companies' controversial price increases.
As you may know, both companies raise prices exponentially when there's high demand or dangerous conditions for their drivers. The fare increases go from a manageable 1.5 times to a ridiculous 10x bump ; that would be make your Manhattan-to-Brooklyn ride cost something like $250.
Despite the insistence by both Uber and Lyft that they need to bump prices in order to keep enough drivers on the road, their formula is not public for surge pricing; they could increase it just because they feel like it and no one would be the wiser. And even though both companies have made it clearer when you're going to pay surge prices, some costumers complained that they were charged exorbitant amounts without knowing.
