By Marcus Uhe
Uber Australia have announced that riders will be charged with a temporary fuel surcharge as a means to compensate drivers dealing with soaring petrol prices.
The temporary surcharge will be implemented for 60 days, having begun Friday 11 March.
The service fees will not be applied to the temporary surcharge.
Head of Driver Operations and Marketplace for Uber Australia Emma Foley said feedback from drivers influenced the decision.
“This will be a temporary per-kilometre based surcharge paid by riders, 100% of which will go to driver-partners,” Ms Foley said.
“This means driver-partners will receive from riders about an extra 50 cents on an average trip.
“The goal of this is to reduce the burden of the unprecedented nature of recent fuel increases while keeping the Uber platform working well for everyone.
Melburnians paid an average of 214.7 cents per litre for fuel on Monday 14 March, according to data from the RACV, with a highest recorded price of 221.9 cents per litre and lowest of 186.9.
