Following an explosion which occurred in the district of Chelsea in Manhattan late on Saturday night in New York, leaving 29 people injured, Uber have faced heavy criticism.
As yet, few details are known about the explosion beyond the fact that it was an ‘intentional’ act.
However, as members of the public tried to get away from the scene it has emerged that Uber, or rather Uber’s algorithm, maintained surge pricing. People have hit out at the taxi app and accused them of cashing in on the situation. Following the explosion Uber fares were reportedly as much as 1.8 times the standard fare.
Despite the fact that shortly after the blast occurred it appears that the company tweeted saying that they had suspended ‘surge pricing’ users still voiced their outrage at the surge in cost.
For any company or service provider charging a premium during times of high demand is a basic rule of business however, this does pose questions about how companies which rely on algorithms to make price structures operate and ensure safeguards against what could be seen as exploitative or callous behaviour.
CNBC are reporting that Uber actually struck an agreement with New York’s Attorney General several years ago to limit surge pricing during natural disasters and states of emergency. Despite the fact that no official state of emergency was declared over the weekend a spokesperson for the company told CNBC that they curbed pricing anyway as they felt it was appropriate.
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This article originally appeared on The Debrief.