Uber, the cab service that has been courting controversy in recent times, has pulled another fast one on passengers on Christmas Eve. The company will now be charging passengers a $2 booking fee in New York.
The service is advertised as being "cheaper than a taxi." The company, however, said on Dec.24 that customers in New York, who subscribe to the UberT service and book a yellow cab via the smartphone app's e-hailing feature, will be charged $2 as "booking fee."
"There is no fee associated with UberT for drivers, however, to cover costs associated with provisioning the platform, riders are subject to a $2 booking fee that is passed through the driver to Uber," stated an Uber spokeswoman.
Uber users can hail a taxi through the smartphone app using their GPS details. However, the company does not get any share of the resulting transaction, and the complete fare is given to the taxi driver.
The company announced the $2 fee via email. The move could prompt customers to use the UberX service from the company, which does not entail a booking charge.
UberX drivers pick up customers who use the smartphone app for the service using their own black cars instead of the yellow cabs. The surcharge, the company claims, is for the benefit of the drivers "who utilize the uber platform."
Interestingly, in the same email announcement, Uber urged customers to deploy the UberX service.
"We want to take this opportunity to introduce UberX," noted the email blast. "With rates cheaper than an NYC taxi, there's no better way to get around!"
The introduction of the $2 fee has not gone too well with the Taxi and Limousine Commission, which denounced the move.
"Drivers will not receive any of the $2 charged to passengers, which will be retained in its entirety by Uber," said spokesperson Allan Fromberg. "We found their use of the term 'on behalf of drivers' to be disingenuous, and its characterization of the increase as being of benefit to this low-income group when it is not in fact was quite frankly jarring."
