Uber passengers in Las Vegas and other parts of Southern Nevada generally disliked their first experience with the ride-hailing provider’s “surge” pricing.
Surge pricing charges passengers more money during peak hours so that more Uber drivers are available to give rides instead of staying at home.
Many passengers experienced pricing shock, with a 2.7-mile trip from Arville and Sahara to the SLS Las Vegas casino costing $26 and a 3.8-mile trip from the Embassy Suites Convention Center on Paradise Road to the Palms casino costing $44, passengers told the Las Vegas Review Journal.
Another passenger reported paying $101 for an Uber 11.5-mile ride to the Hard Rock Hotel from Southern Highlands.
The amounts paid are about double what a cab ride would cost, the Review Journal reported, but some passengers opted for Uber instead of risking a potentially long wait for a cab ride on a busy night.
Uber and ride-hailing competitor Lyft began providing state-approved ride services in Las Vegas and the rest of Nevada on September 15, but the start has been less than smooth.
The Clark County district attorney’s office is considering legal action for Uber and Lyft initially beginning transportation services without a license earlier this year, and McCarran International Airport officials already have written several citations to ride-hailing drivers for dropping off passengers at the airport, the Review Journal reported.
Until a local ordinance is approved, Uber and Lyft drivers are banned from dropping off or picking up passengers at any airport in Clark County or McCarran’s pickup location for car rentals, and a county official notified both that some of their drivers have broken the law.
