Uber facing backlash in Australia over $100 cab rides during Sydney hostage crisis

Uber’s woes in Asia-Pacific are far from over, and now they’re shifting down to Australia. With the armed hostage situation that’s happening in Sydney’s central business district, the taxi app is charging its users in the area a minimum of AU$100 (US$82), which is nearly four times more than the normal rate, a local financial executive tells Mashable.

According to the BBC, the scene of the armed stand-off, Martin Place, is packed with “media, members of the public and the police,” while many of the surrounding buildings have been blocked off as well. Because of this, many locals are reportedly having trouble finding transportation options, and Uber is certainly not making life easier for them.

Uber had introduced a national policy on surge pricing in US cities earlier this year, which guarantees that its “pricing algorithms will be capped during disasters and relevant states of emergency,” and it is unclear whether the same will be applied to this situation as well. So far, the signs indicate otherwise, with Uber simply acknowledging that surge pricing has been implemented:

We are all concerned with events in CBD. Fares have increased to encourage more drivers to come online & pick up passengers in the area.

— Uber Sydney (@Uber_Sydney) December 15, 2014

This won’t make Uber’s case in Australia any better. Its UberX service was in fact declared illegal in Victoria just last week, with the Victorian Taxi Services Commission taking 12 of its drivers to court. Victorian taxi commissioner Graeme Samuel tells ABC that Uber has been “simply ignoring regulators” for the last year, and signed up thousands of drivers in spite of the AU$1,700 (US$1,400) fine that might be levied on them.

Disapproval from the public has been overwhelming, to say the least:

Surge pricing in a hostage crisis is one of those situations where no amount of careful logic will help Uber make the right decision.

— Matthew Panzarino (@panzer) December 15, 2014