‘Price gouging’: Uber slammed for ‘obscene’ fares

Rideshare service Uber has come in for criticism after prices surged to “obscene” levels over the weekend.

The cost of suburban trips reportedly blew out to hundreds of dollars as crowds flocked to Albert Park for the Grand Prix and the AFL at the MCG.

In one instance the cost of a trip from Albert Park to Sunbury was quoted at $328.77 for an UberX and $502.63 for an UberXL.

“They call it surge-pricing, I call it price gouging,” Heidi Murphy said on 3AW Drive.

“If that sort of gouging was being done on anything else, there’d be outrage, there’d be outcry.”

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Transport Matters Party MP Rod Barton said Uber should be subject to more regulation.

“We’ve got to wake up to ourselves … that Uber is just another taxi company from San Francisco doing people’s taxi work,” he told Heidi Murphy on 3AW Drive.

“And there fares should be regulated like the rest of the taxi industry.”

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Image: iStock by Getty