Hard to Tally Day

I've had the Uber app and account since December 2015. I don't use it often, but we decided to use it tonight and it was also Michael's first time using Uber. And now, I don't think he'll be getting an account.

We were going to the, "Steel City Big Pour" event. 150 craft beer vendors and a wonderful collection of food vendors from Market District to Harris Grill, VooDoo's own food truck, BRGR, and many more notables. So using Uber made sense.

For our first ride, in the middle of the request, the price changed and we got surged by 1.2X. To start, our driver seemed confused on how to get to where we were for pick up. She eventually made it to pick us up after driving around a block or two. Great! Although her car was clean, it did seem that her car was on the older and somewhat beat up kind of style overall.

Within minutes of arriving, we saw 4-5 other Uber cars leaving. That validated that it was a good idea. :)

Clusters of Uber PickUps

Leaving the event, we tried to leave at least 30 min early to beat the crowd and surge pricing. So with leaving about 30 min early, we got hit with a 1.7x surge price rate. Not wanting to wait and anticipating a storm coming within an hour, we took the higher price and stood on the corner with about 540 other folks waiting for their Uber.

Our driver tried to shortcut the map and then couldn't find our pick up location. 2 waves of Uber riders had already left and we were still waiting for our car. Really not making a good first impression on Michael. Eventually, our driver showed up and it was clear that he didn't know his way around. From Hampton and really depended on his GPS. So closed roads seemed to confuse him. We eventually made it home.

Uber's Prototype Self-Driving Car

I think the neatest thing I saw was the number of people who used Uber for the event. That was really good to see how response a lot of folks are to do this. We didn't hear of anyone getting an auto driving car, that would have been neat. But none of the cars looked like the photo on the right. I took that picture back on July 8, 2016. Driving through Lawrenceville.

The event also offered discounted tickets for designated drivers. With over 150 types of beer offered during this event, there seemed to be a number of responsible drivers who opted out of driving. I don't know how to score this tally for the day.

I drove over 100 imiles for the day because of my daughter's equine lesson. Saw minimal cyclists on the road. And just encountered a couple of tailgaiters on 22. In general, I think I'd score today in favor of responsible drivers.