You know petrol’s expensive when Uber and Lyft add a fuel surcharge

There are a few things you expect from a ride hailing trip.

To get to the basic vicinity of where you’re trying to go. The agony of surge pricing and the ecstasy of a trip without any conversation. For that little car icon on the map to pinpoint your incoming ride with all the accuracy of a windchime.

Oh, and for fuel to be included in the price.

But what happens when a few gallons of fuel costs as much as an average fare? Well, like we said in the headline – a fuel surcharge. Uber says that “in an effort to reduce the impact of high fuel costs, we are rolling out a temporary fuel surcharge,” in order “to support driver-partners”. Which sure is a weird way to say ‘employees’. But then we’re not exactly business-minded.

Objectively speaking, ‘rideshare’ companies don’t cover the cost of fuel, maintenance or wear and tear. Subjectively speaking, they’re not exactly famous for supporting drivers, either. So what sort of support can “driver-partners” expect? Apparently 45 to 55 cents per trip in the US of A, six cents per kilometre in Australia and... nothing as yet in the UK. Of course, British fares just went up 20 per cent thanks to the recent addition of value added tax, and London fares another 10 per cent to try to win back the drivers that have quit en masse during the pandemic. For reference, Lyft is offering 55 cents per trip.

As you might imagine, this covers the extra expense about as well as Limp Bizkit covered Behind Blue Eyes. With that said, Uber et al are at pains to say the surcharge is to offset the cost, not make up the shortfall. But if fuel prices keep going up, what happens next?

Well, our vote would be for a fleet of battery-assisted rickshaws, but again, we’re not exactly business-minded. So, in lieu of that, quite a bit more pain for drivers, we expect.