If you’re going out to party tonight, don’t even think of driving home after you’ve been drinking. Instead, you should have a designated driver or, failing that, have plans to either call a taxi cab or an Uber ride. The problem with Uber on New Year’s Eve, however, is that you can often get hit with surge prices that reflect higher demand. Uber has helpfully put out a guide this year that will hopefully help you avoid paying way too much money to get home this evening.
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Here is Uber’s graph that shows typical pricing on New Year’s Eve:
As you can see, it’s best to arrive at your party early, so calling for an Uber at 6:30 p.m. seems like the ideal time. Then if you want to leave the party, you should go right after midnight to avoid getting hit with really high prices when everyone is trying to get home at once. If you don’t make it out right after the ball drops then you’re going to be in for a long wait until around 4 a.m. before prices start going back to normal again.
Uber also recommends running a Fare Estimate in the app before confirming your ride and also splitting your ride with a friend to share costs.
There’s also a terrific app called Cut the Surge that scans your area for pickup locations where surge prices are lower and gives you recommendations for when you should wait for a little bit longer to get lower rates. You can download it for iOS at this link.
