‘£25 Uber - and still late for uni’

A Bath student went to the lengths of catching a taxi to university on Tuesday because she couldn’t get there by bus - but was still late because traffic was so bad. Ashley Small experienced the nightmare journey when a perfect storm of bus problems, Uber pricing and traffic congestion conspired to produce an expensive but ultimately wasted journey. Attempting to get to her 9am lecture on time, Ms Small says she made sure she was at a bus stop ready and waiting at 8am. She had hoped to catch the U2 bus from Shophouse Road in Twerton to the University of Bath, but the First Bus service was beset by problems for the second day in a row. By 8.40am, she said two full buses had driven past without stopping. So Ms Small and a friend decided to catch a taxi instead, booking an Uber via an app on her phone. The journey was slow because of heavy traffic and they did not arrive at uni until 9.25. And, to make matters worse, Ms Small said Uber’s “surge pricing” policy pushed up the fare by 70 per cent and she was charged £25. “The cost was crazy,” she said on a Facebook page set up by the University of Bath Student Union to collect feedback for First Bus. The page was rammed with similar stories shared by students who have encountered difficulties getting to and from the university by bus over the past two days. Students spoke of buses not turning up or driving past because they were too full to pick up any more. Others spoke of long queues and buses taking the “old route”. It appears demand for the both the U2 and the U1 took First Bus by surprise. The shortage of either buses or drivers or both has affected school children, their parents, and university students and staff.