They’re getting taken for one hail of a ride.
Furious New Yorkers say they are growing increasingly fed up with Uber’s sticker shock after the company’s very own boss was left stunned by the eye-popping cost of a recent 2.95-mile trip through the Big Apple.
Bri Rozaria, 24, said she is still scarred from an Uber experience she had in April when she traveled from the West Village to JFK airport.
Rozaria insists the upfront cost was $77 when she initially booked, but it shot up an additional $36 by the time she was curbside at the airport.
”I got in the Uber to go to JFK. I was on my phone so I wasn’t paying attention. When I got to JFK, I looked to see what the price was to see what I’d tip. I saw $113. I was shocked. I was annoyed,” she told The Post Wednesday.
“That’s why I don’t take Uber because they are overpriced. That’s $36 that I didn’t budget for. We are trying to save wherever we can. If I had known, I would have probably taken the subway part of the way and Uber the rest of the way.”
Rozaria recounted her costly trip a day after Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi was floored by a journalist’s $51.69 trip, including the driver’s tip, to travel a short distance through downtown Manhattan to Uber’s corporate offices to interview him back in May.
Furious New Yorkers have said they’re well and truly fed up with the ride service’s surging prices.Anadolu Agency“Oh my God. Wow,” a stunned Khosrowshahi said when shown the fare by Wired editor-at-large Steven Levy, who published details of their sit-down interview Tuesday.
Uber’s upfront prices can change, in part, if the duration of the trip changes significantly or if surprise tolls are encountered, the company warns on its website.
By comparison, the base fare for a yellow cab from Manhattan to JFK Airport is $70, according to NYC’s Taxi and Limousine Commission.
Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi was made aware of the hefty receipt after a journalist informed him he’d paid $51.69, including the driver’s tip, to travel the 2.95 miles through downtown Manhattan.Getty ImagesRozaria, who slammed Uber’s price surging, said she now only uses the ride service if she has run out of all other alternatives.
“If you go to a concert, the price automatically goes up because they know you are at a venue, they know it’s late and you want to go home,” she said.
“I only take Uber if that’s only option.”
Sabine Johni, an 18-year-old student and caterer, agreed.
“I would not go to them first,” she said. “But I feel trapped, I need to use them in my time of need when I’m desperate like late at night when you want to go home. Nobody wants to take the trains at nights.”
“I wish there were more options where I don’t need them,” Johni added.
Pooja Somaiah, a 27-year-old model, said she would opt for public transport over Uber any day, saying: “Uber is way overpriced. I really try hard not to take it.”
Johni wishes there were “more options” besides just Uber.William Farrington“I was in Prospect Park and I had an appointment in Bushwick. I was running late and I was like, ‘OK, let me take an Uber’,” she recalled about one recent trip.
“That was $39.94. When I saw it I honestly did not want to pay it.”
During the interview, Khosrowshahi guessed that the reporter’s 2.95-mile Uber ride would’ve set him back “20 bucks.”
But the journalist informed him, “Five minutes earlier, the price was $20 higher.”
While Khosrowshahi attributed the head-scratching fee to “surge pricing,” Levy insisted that made no sense given the trip took place at “10 a.m. on a sunny weekday and it’s not like the president’s in town.”
Uber’s CEO blamed inflation for the increased rates, telling Wired during his sit-down that “everything is more expensive.”
But the company’s prices in the US have increased at four times the rate of inflation – for a total of 83% — between 2018 and 2022, according to a recent Forbes analysis.
In the past, Khosrowshahi has attributed soaring prices to a shortage of drivers during the COVID-19 pandemic, though Uber reached a record-high 5 million drivers in August 2022 — up 31% from the year prior, the company noted in its Q2 2022 earnings report.
Uber didn’t immediately respond to The Post’s request for comment about the 2.95-mile ride.