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Longer Rideshare Wait Times in Las Vegas
Passengers are complaining that wait times for ride-hailing companies like Uber or Lyft are way too long at McCarran International Airport and other Las Vegas locations. The delays come as the number of tourists heading to casinos and hotels starts to increase and demand for rides edges up.
Passengers are complaining that wait times for ride-hailing companies like Uber or Lyft are way too long at McCarran International Airport and other Las Vegas locations. The delays come as the number of tourists heading to casinos and hotels starts to increase and demand for rides edges up.
“We have seen periods of increased wait times for those utilizing rideshare at LAS,” said Joe Rajchel, a McCarran spokesman, to Casino.org on Monday.
Similar delays are found at Circa Resort & Casino’s Garage Mahal, located in downtown Las Vegas. Employees there have heard passenger concerns over wait times and cancellations, the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported.
“Lately, in Garage Mahal, especially on peak days, Friday, Saturday, Sunday, and Monday, upon checkout time, there’s higher wait times because of a shortage of cabs and Ubers,” Danny Suy, valet lead for the Circa Resort, recently told the Review-Journal.
It was also revealed in the report that the number of active ride-hailing drivers in Nevada is less than half of what it was a year ago, according to the Review-Journal.
Why Uber and Lyft are Failing Drivers
As of March 30, there were 13,723 active ride-hailing drivers in Nevada. That compares to 36,482 on March 13, 2020. Most of which is taking the extended unemployment and PUA until September 2021. Others may have quit all together due to the cost of staying on the road with licenses and increased car insurance that takes a heavy burden when Rideshare companies such as Uber and Lyft continue to pinch off earnings and bonuses for drivers to stay on the road. Some bonuses don’t amount to the effort it takes to fetch passengers due to the time constraints when driving for bonuses that are offered to drivers.
State Pricing Approach Blamed
The delays faced by waiting passengers were blamed by some on pricing rules set by state officials. The regulations were implemented because of the COVID-19 emergency, which has been in place for over a year.
Ride-hailing services want to let drivers use surge pricing or dynamic pricing. Under such an approach, when there is very high demand, prices may increase. If passengers do not want to pay the higher rate, they can pass on the ride and wait to see if rates have gone down.
These alternate pricing systems would encourage drivers to go to areas in Las Vegas where there is increased demand.
But the Nevada Transportation Authority prohibits such practices during emergencies declared by state officials.
“Due to the long-term state of emergency … in Nevada, state regulation currently prevents rideshare companies from using dynamic pricing to incentivize drivers during periods of high demand,” an Uber spokesperson told Casino.org.
“This inadvertently impacts driver earnings and rider reliability,” the spokesperson added.
“We are working hard to meet demand. However, due to Nevada’s state of emergency and regulation preventing transportation networking companies from incentivizing drivers, there’s an impact on rider experience and driver earnings,” a Lyft spokesperson was quoted similarly by the Review-Journal. This is true.
Drivers Are Fed Up with Uber and Lyft
Being on extended unemployment is the relief some drivers are happy to have. You can expect more drivers that are still on the road to slow the amount of rides that are taking in a day. The regulations for increased pay for drivers are set in place to discourage and frustrate drivers to quit and give of the ride hailing career because of the taxi cab authouriy in Las Vegas is losing millions because of the ridesharing companies. The Drivers have the power to flip rideshare companie to their favor by not accepting rides and holding out until unemployment runs out.