The new measure allows drivers who provide services in the Lisbon Metropolitan Area to charge a price at least 30% cheaper than the base rate or, at most, double.
As of this Thursday, Uber drivers operating in the Lisbon Metropolitan Area can change the fare of trips. By activating this option, the driver can make the price 30% cheaper for the customer (at one end) or cost twice as much as a normal trip (at the other end). The accounts are made based on a multiplier that focuses on the base fares, time and distance, and the minimum of each trip.
“We are introducing this new option in Lisbon to allow drivers to decide prices, ensuring more control over their services. This is a step towards increasing flexibility and the choice that we know drivers value, ”says an official Uber source.
Thus, a trip that costs 5 euros can cost a minimum of 3.5 euros or a maximum of 10 euros with this option, depending on the multiplier the driver uses. On the total value of the trip, the technology company keeps its 25% commission.
Drivers who want to change travel prices have the autonomy to do so at any time of the day or night and in the areas of the city they prefer – there are no limits on this, as long as it is within the Metropolitan Area of Lisbon. When they do not, the trips continue to have the same cost: 90 cents of the base rate, nine cents per minute, and 59 cents per kilometer, it is read in a text published on the company’s blog.
It is then up to the user to decide whether or not to accept the trip with that value, since he continues to have access to the cost before confirming that he wants to proceed with the service. If the trip with the altered fare is refused, the driver receives an alert with this information.
This option is available when traveling on UberX, UberXL, Uber Star, Uber Green, and Uber Comfort services. While online, “drivers will receive notifications if they are missing trips because they have set a fare above what users want to pay,” explains the company. When drivers go offline, their rates return to the pre-defined value by Uber.
“We believe that with this new option, drivers will have more control, freedom and flexibility over their activity. With this option, you can choose, for example, to reduce your tariff in times or areas of low demand, or to increase it if demand is higher, ”reads the text published on the company’s blog.
Regardless of the price of travel, the cancellation fee that is charged to the user remains the same: 2.50 euros. If in the meantime the driver is in an area of the city where a dynamic tariff is being applied by the company – and if this is higher than the one being used by the driver, the driver receives the highest price.
On October 23, the Express advanced that the Government is preparing a new law in line with what have been the guidelines of the European Commission and the International Labor Organization, to strengthen workers’ rights of digital platforms, which include Uber drivers. These drivers are not employees of technology, they are independent workers.
