Everyone’s heard horror stories of Uber surge pricing on New Year’s Eve. Here’s when you should order.
Can you order an Uber, Lyft or other rideshare on New Year’s Eve? Yes. Of course. Drivers absolutely want to cash in on one the most lucrative (if totally insane) nights of the year. Should you? And when should you? Well, those are other questions.
Surge pricing is notorious. The rise in price of a ride when the demand for rides in the area is high — i.e. drunk, dressed up people on a freezing winter night — is well documented. But perhaps there are sometimes that are better than others to order up that car service to get where you’re going. And remember — at a certain surge rate, you may find it cheaper to take a trusty, highly regulated ol’ taxi cab.
Anyways: You love apps and you’re committed to the ease of calling one up to get to or from your celebration of choice. According to Uber, peak hours to travel to the festivities are between 8 p.m. and 10 p.m. and most people are calling rides home between midnight at 3 a.m. Which is to say, how much do you value the actual clock strike of midnight? Travel early — 7 p.m. or 7:30 p.m. — if even to the area of your party, if it doesn’t start until later and decide whether you’re ready to power through until 4 a.m. or pay up. Of course, if everyone opts to travel on the off-hours, then, well, that’s the new busy hour, isn’t it?
To be fair to Uber, Lyft similarly surges — “prime time pricing” — on New Year’s Eve. You may try other apps, like Via or Gett, typically lock in prices at their standard (reasonable) rates regardless of what’s happening in the city. Combine those policies with new user promos and using an alternative rideshare app may just be the move on New Year’s Eve.
Next: 30 movies to watch instead of going out on NYE
If you’re taking a rideshare on New Year’s Eve — or the wee hours of New Year’s Day — remember to be safe. That means double-checking license plates and bailing on any kind of shady business. (Ride cancellations, circling the block, etc.)