Uber Shortage at MCO?

[tigertides]

I have heard of Uber wait times up to 40 minutes due to the Uber shortage. Can anyone confirm that who has been recently? Would really put a damper on the trip to wait that long

 

[OKW Lover]

Wait times will vary widely through out the day.

 

[SL6827]

Can you not schedule a ride with Uber for MCO the night before? I did this at AoA this past January with rides around Disney.

 

[FCDub]

Can you not schedule a ride with Uber for MCO the night before? I did this at AoA this past January with rides around Disney.

OP is looking for an Uber AT MCO. There’s no reason to do a scheduled ride at the airport, as you’re basically begging for a cancellation fee.

Also, scheduling seems fine in theory but isn’t all that great in practice. All it does it send your ride request 15 minutes before. You’re still left to the whims of whatever’s out there at the time. No drivers? Your scheduled ride isn’t all that helpful. Of course, everything is in flux with the pandemic still, so everyone’s mileage may vary.

 

[FCDub]

OP, you can check this right now. Fire up the app, type in MCO as your location and look at pickup times. Just don’t submit!

 

[SeanWM48]

OP is looking for an Uber AT MCO. There’s no reason to do a scheduled ride at the airport, as you’re basically begging for a cancellation fee.

Also, scheduling seems fine in theory but isn’t all that great in practice. All it does it send your ride request 15 minutes before. You’re still left to the whims of whatever’s out there at the time. No drivers? Your scheduled ride isn’t all that helpful. Of course, everything is in flux with the pandemic still, so everyone’s mileage may vary.

this is correct.

"scheduling" in advance just kinda saves you the hassle of requesting the ride the next day (or whenever your schedule is for). but you're still at the mercy of what's available at the time. it's not like you have a driver set up in advance or anything.

 

[joelkfla]

this is correct.

"scheduling" in advance just kinda saves you the hassle of requesting the ride the next day (or whenever your schedule is for). but you're still at the mercy of what's available at the time. it's not like you have a driver set up in advance or anything.

And @JimMIA has said that sometimes the driver will arrive a few minutes before the time which you requested, and hit you with a no-show fee if you're not where you said you would be when they get there.

 

[Lewisc]

I've seen Uber X fares as high as $85 from MCO to WDW.

You might consider booking a car service. Set rate and time. Grocery stop. Might be worth a few extra dollars.

 

[SL6827]

Wow!!! Thanks so much for all this info, didn't know.

 

[DVC-Don]

I used the schedule system once at home. No driver showed up, so I canceled it and then requested a ride and a ride showed up in a few minutes. That was before Covid came to town. Now I just get "No cars available".

 

[MrKnight]

There is certainly an Uber/Lyft driver shortage right now.. Where are you staying? If there is any alternative transportation option available such as DME/Mears Shuttle/etc. I would recommend booking that in advance.

 

[Capt_BJ]

Did you know the 'regular UBER system' ain't how it works at MCO? There are special rules and procedures. Just as taxi can not simply cruise and look for fares at MCO, so TOO must UBER drivers join a queue at a special holding area and then get sent to the terminals first in first out. ::

MCO regulations for driver-partners
Per MCO regulations, driver-partners must adhere to the terms below. Failure to do so may result in the receipt of a citation or even restriction of access to airport trips. Please note that Uber will not pay for any citations that driver-partners may incur.

• When on airport property, the Uber driver app must be open at all times (driver-partners must not go Offline until exiting the airport area)
• We’ve instituted a special "first vehicle in is the first one out (FIFO)" system at Orlando International Airport. The FIFO system only works within the designated, geofenced area and driver-partners waiting elsewhere will not receive trip requests through the Uber driver app.

At MCO, Uber’s technology uses a first-in, first-out (FIFO) queue. This means that in order to receive a trip request, you need to enter the designated waiting area, located within a “FIFO zone.” You will then be placed in a virtual queue where the first driver-partner to enter will be the first to receive a trip request.


more at: https://www.uber.com/us/en/drive/orlando/airports/orlando-international-airport-commercial/

dunno if other airports have similar systems but would not surprise me ... some cruise ports do similar with taxi too . . .

 

[JimMIA]

dunno if other airports have similar systems but would not surprise me ... some cruise ports do similar with taxi too . . .

Yes, I think queues are pretty standard at airports and cruise ports for both companies. At least in South Florida we have them at all ports -- air and sea. At MIA, I have seen Uber queues with more than 300 cars in queue -- but that was pre-Covid.

Same with taxis, except they have a physical line of hundreds of cars in huge waiting lots.

Lyft even tries to use queues during big conventions, festivals, etc, lol. The drivers just turn Lyft off and use Uber only!

Uber and Lyft also have queues at a number of Disney parks and resorts, I believe. That's why it takes 10 minutes to get to a pickup, but they have to do that for traffic safety.

 

[PatMcDuck]

A few years ago I was on a Spirit flight and the 3 big guys behind me were funny, joking about how squished they were, etc. I was alone so I could hear their conversation, and it turned out they were all Uber drivers. From the Houston area I believe, or Dallas. Anyway they were joking about how they followed an app and knew when several planes were coming in close in timing, or something. They would all drop off the Uber app before they landed. Then let it go to surge pricing, due to low # of drivers, then jump back in to snatch those higher fares. They were laughing it up. When we landed I said "you bastards!" in a joking way. And they were like ooops you heard all that? So I guess rules have changed since then, this was 4 years ago maybe.

 

[JimMIA]

A few years ago I was on a Spirit flight and the 3 big guys behind me were funny, joking about how squished they were, etc. I was alone so I could hear their conversation, and it turned out they were all Uber drivers. From the Houston area I believe, or Dallas. Anyway they were joking about how they followed an app and knew when several planes were coming in close in timing, or something. They would all drop off the Uber app before they landed. Then let it go to surge pricing, due to low # of drivers, then jump back in to snatch those higher fares. They were laughing it up. When we landed I said "you bastards!" in a joking way. And they were like ooops you heard all that? So I guess rules have changed since then, this was 4 years ago maybe.

That's not as easy to do as they made it sound, because if you go offline you lose your place in the queue. It may work in places where there are few drivers, but probably not at a busy airport like Dallas or Houston (or MCO).

There was another tactic I used back in the day (2 years ago) when I was driving during surge periods. If I was taking a rider into an area that might be surging (like from MIA to South Beach) I would switch to "Last ride." That would automatically log me off when I did the dropoff. Then I could look around, see if there were any surges and react accordingly. I did that because, with surge, it was quite possible to get a non-surge ride even if the area was surging.

I never actually liked surges. Later, Uber used "boosts," which I liked. In a "boost" ALL rides in a certain area, during the specified time, carried a fixed dollar amount bonus called a "boost." Those were great because there was no question about what you were getting.

Today, the situation is entirely different. Now they are using kind of a hybrid between boost and surge. They charge the rider a multiple of the normal fare (surge), but pay the driver only a small, fixed amount (boost). In Miami, those little payments are typically less than $5 even though the rider may be paying $20 more for the ride.

And people wonder why lots of drivers quit!