Photo by Roberto Machado Noa/LightRocket via Getty Images(NEW YORK) — You’ve got enough champagne and balloons to properly ring in the New Year. What about your New Year’s Eve ride?
Thursday night is one of the busiest nights of the year for rideshare apps Uber and Lyft but there are ways for revelers to avoid delays and price hikes.
If you’re planning on calling Uber or Lyft, we’ve got the lowdown for how to avoid extreme surge prices.
Uber released a graph showing how certain hours of the night are busier than others.
Uber
“Our busiest hours are 12:30 a.m. to 2 a.m. so within that time range, you need to think about when you’re going to leave and the same goes for getting to where you need to go,” Uber spokeswoman Molly Spaeth told ABC News.
Surge pricing depends on how many people are requesting cars at the same time and how many drivers are on the road.
Uber has no limit for how high prices can go, but Lyft caps its “prime time” pricing at only two times the normal fare.
“Because drivers know that this is a busy time, there are a lot of drivers on the road so going as high as 200 percent doesn’t happen that often,” Lyft spokeswoman Paige Thelen told ABC News.
If prices are high the moment you’re ready to leave that New Year’s party, both companies suggest waiting a few minutes until the crowds calm, or scheduling your exit using the price check tools featured on the companies’ apps.
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