Uber Reservations: How Much Money Can You Really Save?

Uber has become as commonplace in America as Starbucks or Dunkin Donuts. Unfortunately, it can get more expensive to opt for a needed trip if you run afoul of Uber's real-time surge pricing. Making Uber reservations in advance is a solution that can sometimes save you money when traveling. How much it saves you depends on overcoming the nebulous ride reservation fee. Ridesharing costs add up fast, especially if you require rides in a time the company calls peak demand. This makes a savings feature that avoids paying top dollar with the app more important. Uber reserve is a feature on the app that allows riders to pre-book a ride in more than 10,000 cities (around the world) and at over 700 airports.

The way these Uber reservations work is straightforward. Once on the app, a user is able to tap on the reserve icon in the app dashboard. Ride sharers can schedule anywhere from 15 minutes in advance to as far out as 90 days ahead of time. The app then provides reservation details including information about the assigned driver's name and vehicle.

Per Uber's website, a customer can cancel with no penalty or charge up to an hour in advance. The driver waits outside at no extra cost for from five to 15 minutes, depending on the tier of service selected. For passengers waiting for an airport pickup, the flight tracking technology even follows the flight details and adjusts pickup time for airline delays.

Uber claims that, for the benefit of customers, it employs a real-time pricing model that can lead to the cost of a ride changing not only by route chosen but also by the time of day. The company uses a range of data points to pre-determine an upfront price, including distance from the start to end point, estimated time of trip, taxes, tolls, fees, and surcharges. Its surge pricing policy can really cost the passenger more money, though.

Surge pricing is Uber's concept of balancing the ridesharing market in peak times. Designed to adjust the balance between rider demand and driver availability, it takes effect if more riders ask for service than there are available Uber drivers in a specific area. The idea behind these higher rates is that drivers will be incentivized to service the busier area.

The price surge model is clearly good for drivers, and Uber's experience shows that fewer riders will spring for the premium price. While surge pricing is in effect, an influx of Uber drivers see the demand increase on their map and head to the impacted areas. Uber claims that the practice is fair as it is controlled by an impartial algorithm that detects the demand shifts and driver availability in a city all in real time. The prices are frequently updated as the network balance is restored. Riders can avoid a costly mistake with the higher surge prices in one of two ways. They can wait a while for the supply demand conditions to improve. Alternatively, they can schedule their rideshare requirement with Uber in advance to save.

The best way to avoid mistakes with Uber ridesharing may be through booking a reservation as far in advance as practical. Effective advance requests should be arranged two hours before time. They can be canceled at no fee up to an hour before the scheduled ride time. This "reserve in advance" feature also allows users to pre-select their driver, and it comes with an on-time pickup guarantee, per Uber.

The argument for saving money is good, but savings will be limited by one factor. Uber's website points out that when a customer makes a request for a reserved trip, the price offered is an estimate which includes their reservation fee that varies according to the location of the pickup and the time and day of trip. Riders pay the fee to compensate the driver for distance and time they spend getting to the pickup location and for their additional wait time included in the quote. This ambiguous fee warning from Uber itself makes it difficult to determine exactly how much you will save over peak time surge pricing by reserving a rideshare in advance. At least Uber customers do not have to worry about odd-even pricing like in retail stores.