LIRR strike: Uber, Lyft and sticker shock

A looming LIRR strike was not on Hilary Bloom’s radar as she vacationed in London this past week. But after her return flight arrived at Kennedy Airport on Saturday morning, she learned all trains had been canceled and she would need to find another way to get home to St. James.

Checking the Uber app on her phone, she was shocked to see the price: $297.

“That’s just way too much. ... I'm sure they take advantage,” she said.

Rather than pay the fare, she plopped herself down on the curb and called her husband, who agreed to come pick her up. Then she shrugged.

“I just traveled for such a long time, what’s an hour and a half more?” she said.

Other riders traveling from Ronkonkoma to LaGuardia Airport and from Manhattan out to Long Island also said they experienced sticker shock when looking for app-based rides on Saturday.

At times of peak rider demand, Uber applies “surge” pricing, a dynamic surcharge, while Lyft uses a similar concept called Prime Time. The companies said this is necessary to attract more drivers to meet the needs of more riders — basic supply and demand.

But the companies also have been accused of taking advantage of disruptions that can cause hardship.

Kevin O'Connor, a box office manager for a Broadway musical, said Lyft quoted him $350 to get home to North Babylon from Manhattan on Saturday.

"There's some obvious blatant gouging going on, and I can't imagine what Monday's going to be like if they don't settle this," he said.

Josh Gold, a spokesman for Uber — which warned passengers to prepare for surge pricing during last year’s NJ Transit strike — said in a statement that “consumers should expect slightly higher prices at times during the [LIRR] strike as we work to get more drivers on the road to meet increased demand, with additional funds going to drivers.” But he said the company is “limiting surge” on Long Island.

Lyft spokesman CJ Macklin said the company’s use of Prime Time pricing was within the “normal range” on Long Island on Saturday, adding that riders can find cheaper fares if they use the scheduled rides or “wait and save” options.

Arun Sundararajan, an economist at the Stern School of Business at New York University, said dynamic pricing can be an efficient way to attract more drivers to spend time on the road, but, he acknowledged, "it gets a bad rap because you know nobody likes higher prices." He said that if the strike extends longer, prices may come down — though the start of the workweek on Monday also may see a surge in demand and thus prices.

Kelly McGuinness, director at the Sam Schwartz Transportation Research Program at Hunter College, acknowledged the efficiency argument but said she was wary of "having an untapped ceiling of how high those prices need to go.”

Ride-hail companies have been accused of price gouging in certain extreme events like natural disasters and a subway shooting in New York City in 2022.

McGuinness added: “I think overall these companies have an opaque algorithm. We don't know exactly what they're putting into that to say it's a surge.”

Some ride-hailing companies also use personal data to give personalized prices. The Uber app, for example, warns users the prices they see are “set by an algorithm using your personal data,” following a notification requirement under New York State law.

Newsday's Maureen Mullarkey contributed to this story.

By Peter Gill

peter.gill@newsday.com