Updates to surge help make it a less frustrating and more reliable, consistent earning opportunity for drivers.

Below is an overview of answers to common questions from roundtables with drivers in cities across the US.

What’s changing about surge? Because it takes time for you to get to a surge zone, surge now lasts longer on the map. Instead of just basing surge on where the rider pickup happens, it will also take your location into account. If you and your rider are both in a surge zone, you’ll earn the higher of the 2 amounts. No more guesswork: instead of multiples (think 1x or 2.3x), you’ll now see dollar amounts. The dollar amount shown on the map is the minimum surge amount you’ll earn extra on your next trip. Surge amounts will stick with you as you continue to move through zones before your next trip. This means that you will keep the highest surge amount that you have driven through for your next trip, even if you leave the surge zone (without going offline). We want surge to be a less stressful and more reliable way for you to earn, not increase Uber’s share of earnings. If you choose to drive to surge, in most cases you can expect your weekly surge earnings to remain steady or increase.

How do I earn with the new surge? Drive to a surge zone. (If you drive through multiple surge zones, you’ll earn the highest surge amount that you have driven through on your next trip.) Stay online and accept your next trip. You will earn surge if you are in a surge zone or the rider’s pickup location is in a surge zone when you accept the trip. The surge amount will be shown at the bottom of your home screen when you’re in a surge zone. This is the minimum surge amount that you’ll earn on your next trip, in addition to regular fares. (Note: the surge amount will not apply to your next trip if you reject, cancel, go offline, or change your trip preferences.)

How will this change affect my earnings? With dollar amounts on the map, you can earn additional surge amounts consistently on every trip—no matter the length. Watch those surge earnings add up on each surge trip, without relying on that single “lucky” long surge trip. Here are a few scenarios to help show you how it might work across different trips compared with the previous version of surge: Surge trips Old version of surge New version of surge 1.7x – rider request outside the surge $0 $3 1.4x – surge disappears after you get there, before next trip $0 $2.25 2.0x – longer trip $13.47 $5.75 2.1x – shorter trip $3.31 $6 TOTAL $16.78 $17 The surge amounts above are on top of fares. Notice that on shorter trips, you’ll earn more with the new surge, but on infrequent longer trips, you may earn a little less than before. Because most trips are shorter, this change will allow you to earn surge amounts more consistently and more often.

How does surge work on longer trips? The surge dollar amounts shown on the map are the minimum you can earn on a surge trip. When you complete a longer surge trip, you’ll often see your surge amounts adjusted with added amounts. These additional amounts will vary based on time, distance, and the rider price of a trip—ensuring that you’re earning for your extra effort and receiving a meaningful portion of the surge rider price. Check the “surge” line item on your trip receipt at the end of a long surge trip to see any additional earnings on top of what was shown on your map screen.

Sometimes I don’t get surge on my next trip. Why is that? When you reach a surge zone, the additional surge earnings will not be applied to your next trip if you are to cancel, reject, go offline, or change your trip preferences.

How does surge work for UberPool trips? Surge pickup fees will be added to each UberPool pickup during the surge trip, in addition to the surge dollar amount on the map. The surge pickup fee amount will be shown on the request screen before each additional pickup on the trip.

Where can I see my surge earnings from UberPool trips? You can find your surge earnings on your trip receipt. You will see two different items that show your total surge earnings. You can see that the surge amount from the map appears in the surge portion. The extra surge amount for pickups appears in your standard pickups fees. Take a look at a sample receipt for a $4 surge zone and two $3 surge pool pickup fees, totaling $10: Additional surge Pool pickup amounts will only apply on Pool trips with more than 1 pickup on Pool.

How does surge work at the airport? Join the driver queue zone and accept a trip while in the queue to earn airport surge amounts. How to earn surge:

1. Join the driver queue zone

2. Complete a trip request received in the driver queue zone

3. Airport surge amount will be applied to the completed trip Trips accepted while you are outside of the driver queue zone will not be eligible for airport surge amounts. This is intended to better match drivers to airport trip requests during busy times. Note: You are still eligible for airport surge amounts when you receive and accept an airport trip request immediately after dropping off a rider at the airport.

How do I give feedback about the new surge experience? Your comments are valuable to us and help us improve your driving experience. If you have thoughts or suggestions about the new surge, we’d love to hear them. To submit your feedback, use the form below or head to your local Greenlight Hub to talk to an expert. Submit feedback >

Back to basics: What is surge?

There are times when so many people are requesting rides that there aren’t enough cars on the road to help them all. Bad weather, rush hour, and special events, for instance, may cause unusually large numbers of people to want to ride with Uber, all at the same time.

To make it worth your while to drive to these busy areas, dollar amounts are added on top of your fares for trips taken from there. These dollar amounts are shown on the map screen.

The dollar amounts will increase in zones where there is a higher discrepancy between demand for rides and drivers in the zone. This is shown through the colors on the map and the dollar amounts.

You will see higher dollar amounts in the middle (or red zone) of the surge zones. These represent a higher volume of riders requesting. Dollar amounts are lower in surrounding zones where there are fewer riders requesting.

As we work to improve the marketplace, we may test functionality and pricing in ways not described on this site.