Uber Is Cutting New York City Fares by 15%

NEW YORK CITY, NY — Fresh off a big political win earlier this month at New York City Hall, Uber executives announced Friday that the ride-sharing company is cutting rates for all UberX, UberXL and UberPool rides within the city.

Effective immediately, all UberX fares will be cut by 15 percent — a result of a lower base fare and a lower rate for both miles and minutes. Additionally, the minimum fare for an UberX ride will drop from $8 to $7.

UberXL and UberPool rides will also be cheaper.

For example, the company said, the average UberPool ride from the East Village to Chelsea will now cost around $7.94, where it used to cost around $9.34. And the average UberPool ride from Williamsburg to Bushwick will cost around $6.31, where it used to cost around $7.42.

You can find more of the math behind the new rate drops over at Uber’s website.

Here’s how the company is rationalizing these lower fares to its drivers:

The last time we reduced rates, uberX trips in the outer boroughs more than doubled, and today a third of all trips begin in the outer boroughs.

Drivers will feel the benefits of lower prices too—because when demand increases there’s less idle time between for trips, and that means more time with a rider in the car.

It’s a model that works. In 2012, uberX partners spent on average 16 minutes of every hour with a rider on a trip. Today—18 months after our July 2014 price decrease—that time has doubled to 32 minutes. This means higher hourly earnings for drivers. For example when we cut prices in July 2014, the average idle time fell by 42% and average hourly partner earnings increased by 33%.

As with most everything Uber does, the New York Taxi Workers Alliance, which represents drivers within the fixed-rate yellow cab system, is not stoked.

“Uber is keeping its drivers in poverty wages just so that the company can try to monopolize,” Bhairavi Desai, executive director of the alliance, told the New York Post. “This is horrible.”