Surge Pricing

Surge pricing is dynamic pricing that increases the fare during periods of high demand or low driver supply. Rideshare companies use it to attract more drivers to busy areas and ration limited supply.

Uber prints surge as a multiplier next to the fare: "1.5x" or "2.0x", meaning the trip costs 1.5× or 2× the normal rate. Lyft uses the same concept but calls it "Prime Time" and shows it as a percentage: "+50%" instead of "1.5x".

Surge applies to the base fare and the per-minute/per-mile rates, but NOT to the booking fee or tip. A trip during 1.5× surge with $10 base, $3 booking fee = $10 × 1.5 + $3 = $18 (not $13.50 × 1.5).

On the receipt, surge appears as a multiplier annotation next to the fare breakdown lines. The customer sees the post-surge total, not the base fare alone. For receipt design, including the surge multiplier when applicable is a critical authenticity detail — a $35 short Uber ride without a surge note looks suspicious.