Uber: the laws of supply and demand

As we returned from a recent vacation, our plane was late and we landed in Salt Lake City around 10 pm. By the time we walked to the end of new cavernous terminal, it was already 10:15, then among a huge crowd of travelers for that time of the day, I fumbled around to call a Lyft or a Uber to takes us back to Park City. 

I tried Lyft first and was asked to fork over $200 for a ride that normally hovers around $50. Shell-shocked, I looked into Uber and found a ride for $105 which still was a lot, but much better than the previous one, so I took it, knowing that with tip, this ride would set me $125 back! 

As I was waiting for the driver to accept my ride, my wife was growing impatient and kept on asking me: “Is that cab you ordered coming?” I told her that my phone showed it six minutes away, and asked to be patient, but since she was understandably tired of traveling all day, she kept on asking me the same question.

So much so that when I saw a white VW that looked a bit like Jetta and quickly glanced at the license plate that was about what I was expecting and screamed: “That’s it!” The roadway was a real mess and the driver had to load us on the fourth lane of that loading area, he said something to me that I didn’t understand and hopped inside the car that sped away. 

After 8 to 10 minutes driving, Fernando, our driver, exited to a Street that wasn’t our normal itinerary. I said, “This isn’t the way to Park City!” He responded, “Are you going to Park City? I thought you were going to Murray (a suburb of Salt Lake)! Aren’t you David?” I said: “No, I’m not David!” 

So clearly I messed up and didn’t really pay attention when the driver asked me if I was David when we entered his car, and the VW wasn’t a Jetta, but a CC, but in the heat of the moment, any VW looked like the Jetta I needed to get to Park City. 

Long story short, at the same time, the original driver, we ordered our ride from, kept calling me on my phone and I had no idea who he was, as he spoke with a thick Arabic accent. When I finally connected with him, I explained what had happened; he then asked me to cancel the ride, which I did and had to pay $5.75 for it. 

Then, as we were parked near the freeway, our driver asked me to re-book the ride. This time as we were 10 minutes away from the airport commotion and in zone with far less demand than supply, the algorithm brought down the cost of the ride to a reasonable $34.96, much more in line with what I normally paid. 

We were elated that the problem had been solved and even after tipping Fernando $20 for his emotional distress, my own mistake still saved me $60!

This of course taught me a very valuable lesson as to getting out of expensive Lyft or Uber rides by simply moving to a much quieter location, by simply using a free hotel shuttle going to some downtown location, away from a super crowded and crazy airport scene. Even more importantly, it also taught me that I must pay more attention to the car that’s coming for me and that I’m the guy who ordered it!