Cheapest Time to Ride Uber

You own a car but it’s in the shop. Or you need a safe ride home after a few drinks. Or maybe you’re weighing the newly-popular option of not buying a car and using ride services instead.

Whether you need a ride to work, the airport, or to meet a friend for coffee, your time is precious. If you’re looking for the best time in the day to catch a uber ride, below is a table showing the cheapest fare during weekdays and weekends.

The cheapest time to ride Uber during weekdays is morning 9:00 am to 12:00 pm, afternoon 2:00 pm to 4:00 pm, and night after 6:00pm except for Friday nights. Many people are going for a social gathering on Friday nights after work so the demand is higher.

Time	Mon-Fri	Fri	Sat/Sun
Before 9:00am	Expensive	Expensive	Varies
9:00am-12:00pm	Cheap	Cheap	Varies
12:00pm-2:00pm	Average	Average	Varies
2:00pm-4:00pm	Cheap	Cheap	Varies
4:00pm-6:00pm	Expensive	Expensive	Varies
After 6:00pm	Cheap	Expensive	Varies

Uber fare is normally cheaper during the weekends, but weekends are also most likely to cause the price surge. We will look deeper into this later in this article.

Table of Contents

How to Get Cheapest Fare on Uber

Girl booking online taxi cab uber at night in city street

Be Flexible with you Time

If you have any wiggle room, you are at an advantage. Let’s say you need a ride to the airport during a typically busy time of day. Morning or evening rush hour are especially busy. You’ve worked out in your schedule that it will take 30 minutes to get to the terminal and you want to be an hour early for your flight.

If you were to leave earlier than preferred, it would mean having some down-time. It would leave you spending time roaming aimlessly—trying to find ways to entertain yourself in an airport terminal. But it could also mean the difference between spending three times the normal rate or paying the normal price. It could mean you have extra time to prepare for your impending trip.

Go over your work plans once more, make a phone call, or catch up on your local news. It depends on how you look at it. Being flexible with your time is a great way to save money when using a car service. The demand is higher at certain hours, so if you can avoid the busy times you will save yourself some real money! But we’re not done yet. If your timing cannot be adjusted, don’t fret. There are other ways to get the cheapest possible fare on Uber.

Be Flexible with your Ride

Though they vary by city, your ride options have different levels of luxury, size, and accommodations. And, beware, the prices go up accordingly. For example, if you prefer a safe ride home from a recent party using the Uber Comfort option in a newer-model roomy Cadillac, you can expect to pay more than if you were willing to use UberX.

Cheapest Uber Ride Option:

UberX = Cheapest
UberXL
UberSELECT
UberBLACK = Most Expensive

That is, to accept a ride from a driver in an older-model Toyota Camry with virtually no legroom. By all means, the UberX car will still be less than ten years old, based on Uber.com description of their levels of ride options. But, nonetheless, there is a certain style and comfort level that you may not be interested in giving up.

Be Flexible with your Plans and Expectations

If you have a group of five or more people wanting to ride together and split the cost of the ride, it may cost more than you are hoping to spend.

That is because UberXL costs more than the other ride options. If you are able to take two separate UberX rides to split the group, then you can potentially save a lot of money. So, be flexible with your expectations of who will ride together.

As long as all of you arrive at the same location and you’ve saved money in the process, then it is a win-win situation.

Why Do Uber Price Surge?

Uber is very expensive at certain times because of Surge Prices. This occurs when demand is more than supply, which means there are more passengers than there are available drivers.

You will especially experience surges on weekday mornings before noon and on weekend evenings—especially when bars are closing.

Typically, holidays are not the reason for price surge but the rate are generally higher than non-holidays because there are more riders than drivers on Holidays.

Think Outside the Box to Avoid Surges

It may seem counterintuitive, but you can actually avoid surge pricing by opting for the Uber Select ride option. This is because most users are choosing UberX at the same time as you are. Therefore, riders experience a surge—a 2-3X surge—in pricing because of the high demand.

Hence, by choosing Uber Select, you can treat yourself to a nicer ride, avoid a price gouge, and still get where you are going without a long wait. And maybe you’ll love riding in that new luxury car with the leather interior and Bose sound system so much that you’ll never go back.

You may grimace at the mere thought of riding in a car with a stranger—who isn’t the driver, of course. No, the thought of using UberPOOL never occurred to you before because it is more convenient to just spend more money and go directly to your destination without the added awkwardness of interacting with a total stranger with whom you must split a fare.

But if you experience a surge and want to avoid astronomical pricing due to the busy time of your ride request, consider giving UberPOOL a go. You will get to share the fare with someone who is going in a similar direction as you. And you will have the chance to meet someone new!

Which Uber is the Cheapest?

If you are looking for the cheapest ride option for you and 1-3 fellow riders, you will want to choose the most basic option: UberX. You can add stops along the way and expect to ride in a basic car with a make and model less than ten years old.

But that is not the cheapest option if you are a single person with a little wiggle room in your time and location. If your main goal is to save money and you are willing to walk a little bit and ride with a few “new friends” along the way, then you’ll want to keep looking at some even cheaper possibilities.

With Comfort and Select options topping the menu as the most expensive ride options, Uber has recently released an all-new ride option in the US. Uber Express Pool is an extension of their already-affordable UberPOOL option.

It is very similar to riding a bus! Yes, you read that right—public transit. Except instead of a huge well-lit bus making dozens of stops, you’re in the back seat of a car strapped in beside someone you’ve never met. Here’s how it works: each rider is required to wait at a specific location with their fellow riders.

Instead of being dropped off at a specific destination—the restaurant where you’re meeting your parents, or your friends house– you will be taken to a pre-appointed area that would be considered convenient for each rider’s respective destination.

If you don’t mind walking, you have just found Uber’s cheapest option! Check their website to find out if it is available in your city yet.

Uber Ride Type	Approximate Ride Cost (4 miles / 15 minutes )
Uber Pool	$8-$11
Uber X	$9-$12
Uber Comfort	$12-$15
Uber XL	$15-$20
Uber Select	$25-$30
Uber Black	$30-$40
Uber Black SUV	$42-$54

Here is an example cost of a 10 mile and 20 minute Uber X ride cost by city:

City	Price
Chicago	$14.70
Houston	$15.00
Nashville	$15.30
Tampa	$15.85
Los Angeles	$16.00
Orange County	$16.00
Atlanta	$16.70
Milwaukee	$17.15
Denver	$17.70

Get an estimate: Uber Rate Calculator

Is Uber Cheaper on Weekends?

Uber fare is normally cheaper compared to weekdays. However, Saturdays & Sundays are some of the most well-known price surges that occur on weekends.

When bars and clubs shut down for the night, there will be fewer drivers in comparison to the number of people requesting rides.

This means that for as little as a few minutes, or for as long as a few hours you could experience a price surge.

You can wait it out and see if it’s cheaper to choose Uber Select or Comfort rides, or use a ride option that you wouldn’t normally choose.

Whatever the case, you won’t find Uber to be cheaper on the weekends. But you may find that there are more options early on weekend mornings when fewer people are requesting rides.

You may find UberX drivers are out in droves looking to pick up fairs, whereas the night before you had to pay much more than normal because there were virtually none in range.

How to Get an Uber 50% Off Promo Code

It’s surprisingly easy to procure for yourself a 50% off promo code for your first three Uber rides. The company has little to lose in this scenario because many times people only use Uber because they have a promo code. Then they get hooked and become regular Uber users! Simply type into your internet search engine “50% off Uber” and the first link will be for the current month and year.

That will likely have the most recent, real promo code. In many cases, the promo code will only be available in the Uber app. So, make sure to download it first. Before attempting to use the code, make sure it is not prohibited in your area. Below are a few links where you can find other discount promo codes!

At Ngcoupons.org you can get $4-$7 off your first few rides with Uber!
At Savings.com they offer $2.50-$5 off and more
At Slickdeals.net search for Uber and get $6 off for first-time riders

You may be new to ride services on a whole. Or maybe you’ve been using Uber for years but are always on the lookout for good deals and promotions. No matter where your experience falls, you can find plenty of information in this article and other like it to make you an Uber expert in no time at all.