Uber Charged $100 Minimum Fare To Flee Sydney Hostage Crisis Area

Editorial Use Only. Consent Required for Commercial Use and Book PublicationsOffice workers are evacuated from surrounding office buildings during a siege at Martin Place in the CBD while hostages are held at gunpoi... Editorial Use Only. Consent Required for Commercial Use and Book PublicationsOffice workers are evacuated from surrounding office buildings during a siege at Martin Place in the CBD while hostages are held at gunpoint at the Lindt cafe in Sydney, New South Wales Gunman takes hostages in Lindt Cafe, Sydney, Australia - 15 Dec 2014 (Rex Features via AP Images) MORE LESS
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Uber was offering refunds to riders in Sydney, Australia after the personal taxi service charged customers up to four times its normal rate to leave the area where a hostage situation was unfolding.

Authorities on Monday warned the public to stay away from Sydney’s central business district and evacuated buildings there after a gunman took an unknown number of hostages inside a Lindt Chocolat Cafe. Mashable reported that some Uber users trying to leave that area saw surge pricing was in effect at four times the service’s normal rate, with a minimum fare of AU$100, or $82.

Uber employs price surging when demand for the service is high — on New Year’s Eve, for example — so that more drivers are motivated to get on the road and pick up passengers.

The company quickly reversed course Monday after receiving backlash on social media.

Uber said it was “concerned with the events happening in Sydney” and would refund those customers who were charged the higher rates.

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Notable Replies

  1. This company just comes across as the Craigslist of “taxi” services: utter sleaze.

  2. Avatar for dd40 dd40 says:

    Just good old capitalism at work,until you are caught screwing somebody over and it goes public.

  3. Except for the preadtory lending-type car loans to drivers, all the problems with Uber were obviously on the horizoin from the get-go. They were trying to exploit a loophole and use it to be unregulated and of course they have all the problems that regulation was meant to address and exposed all the failings of libertarianism. I have dozens of apps on my phone (most of which i actually use), Uber never seemed worth the effort.

  4. At least they didn’t rape anyone or proposition them to have oral sex. This is a positive step for UBER.

  5. Avatar for henk henk says:

    I buy and sell things on craigslist all the time. There isn’t one damn thing sleazy about that.

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