Universal Orlando imposing $4 fee on Uber rides

That seems weird for Universal. Unless they've been having major traffic problems or they have some kind of transportation service that's being undercut, you'd think they'd want to make easy every available way to get to their property, especially given how common it is for WDW guests to want to cross over. In fact, I'm a little surprised they don't have a free shuttle from "as close as legally allowed" to Disney property.

Routing the cars all the way up to the top of the garage sure seems like a strange choice. It's already a maze in and out of those. On the Disney end, I've only seen them at AK and DHS, but they're able to get in and out pretty fast, and I'm not aware of any up-charges.

I think it may be a smart choice.
I usually stay in that little hotel village across the street from Universal. (Major?)
On my last visit I wanted to meet some friends at City Walk for the evening, and Uber seemed like the wise way to go. Drop off wasn’t bad, but the car service area was in the lot below the bridge that also served the resort busses. That meant a cluster at night when people were leaving the park. The cars were lined up along the curb all the way around the lot and down the street. Ride service users were complaining of long waits and difficulty finding their rides. I decided to walk, which worked out fine.
If they use the roof at least on most days there will be plenty of room and maybe there will be a system or something to improve the situation. It will be a longer walking trip, though, especially for those that are trying to avoid driving to parking lots. (Like me)
The four bucks sucks.

that just sucks.

We charge £3 for Uber to come on site as it go to the point no one was paying to park... it was cheaper to get an Uber.

Uber said the extra $4 from every pick-up will go toward extra personnel on hand to help riders find their drivers.

We made it more difficult for you to find your driver so you will need to pay for us to hire people to help you find your driver. ;)

Seems like this is a "because we can" charge. Inclusive of the $4 charge, will Uber be less expensive than a cab?

Is this Uber specific? Seems like it'd just drive people to use Lyft (which is normally less anyway in my experience.)

GoBucks89 said:Inclusive of the $4 charge, will Uber be less expensive than a cab?

Unless it's a very short trip, it's probably still significantly less. I used Uber to go from the airport to an I-Drive hotel last fall and it was less than $30. Same trip on a cab a couple of years before than was close to $50.

Parking is $26 now, so even with a $4 fee you may be far better off... Or just have the car drop you off somewhere near the resorts or something and walk in.

It's crazy to think we have come from $10 and $15 parking just a few years ago to $20-25 being the norm now.

kpjb- I’m sure it’s for all ride share companies.

SteveWoA said:

It's crazy to think we have come from $10 and $15 parking just a few years ago to $20-25 being the norm now.

Here's a post complaining about $6-$8 to park at Disney.

I love the perspective that a 20 year old forum can give.

SteveWoA said:

Or just have the car drop you off somewhere near the resorts or something and walk in.

This is only for drop off only.

One could avoid the fee by walking or taking the boat to one of the hotels.

..and that would probably be okay, if it reduces congestion overall. I'm sure that parking deck wasn't designed for the traffic patterns that cabs/rideshare creates, given when it happened. A big increase in drop-off/pick-up traffic could well be difficult to handle. Airports are seeing the same thing, and LAX recently moved rideshare out to a lot with a shuttle because getting in and out of that inner loop can take a *long* time. The new lot has been a cluster, too. https://www.lamag.com/citythinkblog/lax-uber-rules/

SteveWoA said:

Parking is $26 now, so even with a $4 fee you may be far better off...

Well, that's not taking the actual fare in to account. Assuming you tip the driver, you're only better off if it's around an $8 ride in the first place. That won't get you much further than one of Universal's own hotels.

I don't think the ride share options are about saving money, but rather convenience. Which is why I don't think anyone will balk at an extra $4. Which is why I think they're charging it.

eightdotthree said:
One could avoid the fee by walking or taking the boat to one of the hotels.

I'm not sure about that. There have been seasons where they've not let you on the boat or the walkways without a room key.

I don't recall ever showing my key. I definitely didn't this weekend.

Lord Gonchar said:

Here's a post complaining about $6-$8 to park at Disney.

I love the perspective that a 20 year old forum can give.

$9 adjusted for inflation today is around $13. Somehow, these parks managed to go wayyyyy above and beyond!

But yeah, I recall when $8-10 was complained about for sure. At the time, I thought $15 was a bit crazy. But there is a point in which it just seems ridiculous, and at this point in time, $20+ it is.

At least Europe has their pricing in line... Europa Park charges less than $8... With our hotel, parking was free. Most of the other parks we visited were under $10 over there as well. Admission was comparable (or cheaper) than most US parks and they seem to do just fine and offer a better product across the board.

With that perspective, it's just a little annoying to hand over $25 to park a car. I'd much rather the parks just roll in the parking surcharge to ticket prices to avoid the whole 'nickle and diming' tactic... Not the same industry, but there is a reason Southwest Airlines is so successful. No change fee's, no bag fee's, etc... It just makes the overall experience better from the get-go.

It is what it is, though.

Is it weird that when I paid 20 bucks to park in a Baltimore garage for a 3 hour concert I thought, "that's not bad"?

It's not weird, it's just unfortunate that we accept it. The market allows it to happen.