Uber’s surge pricing is always a bummer. The company won’t be removing the unpopular feature anytime soon, but a new update should make it a little easier to understand how much your extra expensive ride is going to cost.
The company announced plans this week to simplify how surge charging works. Instead of showing you a multiplier and asking you to figure how much your ride will cost, Uber will simply show the final estimated price when you go to hail an UberX. That forecasted fair is based on the expected time, trip distance and local traffic, combined with the number of riders and drivers around you at the moment.
That sounds like a nice improvement, but it may also have a pretty big downside. Moving forward, Uber won’t make it as obvious that you’re paying for surge pricing. Instead, you’ll simply see the price and have to guess how much extra the company is charging you at any given time.
Uber says it’s been testing the new feature for UberX in the U.S. and India since April, with thousands of people already experiencing the update. Now the company is set to expand its upfront pricing to the rest of the world.