Pro-tip: Avoid Uber surge pricing on New Year’s Eve

It’s New Year’s Eve, and that means many of you are likely gearing up for a night of partying and, for a lot of people, drinking. Cabs will be in high demand because of that, so drivers will look to drive their prices up (no pun intended) to manage the increased load.

Uber, being the awesome folks that they are, did some dirty work on their end and gave us a quick look at when they expect their prices to be at their highest (otherwise known as surge pricing) based on previous trends.

The first takeaway is that ride activity drastically rises between the hours of 12:30 am, just after the iconic crystal ball in New York drops, and 2:30am, which we imagine is around the “winding down” hour of any parties or bars celebrating the event. As such, it’s probably wise to hitch a ride either immediately after the calendar turns to 2015, or wait until well after the crowd has dissipated a couple of hours later.

Another quick takeaway is that there tend to be moderate spikes around 9pm, the time we imagine everyone is looking to get to their destination to start the party. While fares at that window of time aren’t expected to be as expensive as the first rides of 2015, you could save a couple of bucks by getting to your party a bit early or a little late (and who doesn’t want to be fashionably late, anyway?).

But no matter when you decide to head home, we urge you to let someone else turn the wheels if you’ve been drinking. There have been enough accidents in 2014, and there’s no reason not to call on a cab or give Uber a spin to make sure no one is seriously injured or, at worst, killed due to foolishness on the very first day of 2015.

[via Uber]