Heads up, Australia – your Ubers are about to become a smidge more expensive.
The ride-sharing company is hiking up minimum fares as of next month, with prices set to rise by as much as $2 in some parts of the country.
Come June 9, minimum fares will rise from $8 to $9 in Sydney, from $6 to $7.50 in Melbourne, Brisbane and the Gold Coast, and from $5 to $7 in Adelaide and Perth.
Customers will also be slugged by a 55c booking fee, which Uber says will cover “operational costs”.
“Following our recent roundtable listening discussions with driver-partners, we heard that an important improvement Uber could make to the driving experience would be increasing the minimum fare,” said an Uber spokesperson. “As a result, we are raising the minimum fares across different Australian cities.”
“Minimum fare trips make a very small percentage of trips in most cases,” it said in a statement. “This very small minimum fare increase is not really going to make much of a difference to drivers bottom line. Most drivers we talked to view this latest Uber increase as an insult and a slap in the face.
“It is the RSDU’s view that Uber has a very long way to go. Even after this small increase, base rates are still at very low unsustainable levels, leaving drivers with well below minimum take home wage. We do however welcome the new approach now taken by Uber, a direct result of our advocacy work.”
Its demanding Uber instead move the base rates higher to make then sustainable.
Photo: The Devil Wears Prada.
