Consumer Reports wrote to the Federal Trade Commission calling for an investigation into the pricing practices of the ride-sharing companies Uber and Lyft under the agency’s consumer protection authority.
Last month, CR published an article detailing how Uber and Lyft offer consumers markedly different prices — even for the same rides priced at almost the same time (generally within six minutes of one another and, in many cases, within the same minute). In addition, both companies purported to offer consumer “discounted” prices based on what appeared to be inflated baselines and that were often higher than the median prices being offered to other riders. The investigation was based on a monthslong investigation by Consumer Reports which included a partnership with the Drivers Union Oregon.
Since the publication of CR’s investigation, 32,330 consumers have signed a petition calling on the agency to launch an investigation into the companies.