Man pays $84.05 for Uber ride from King's Road to Changi Airport -- but only $22 for regular taxi

Update on Sep 29:

Uber has adjusted Mike's fare to $21.03 following his Stomp report.

Get the full update here: Passenger's $84.05 Uber fare adjusted to $21.03 after Stomp report

Original article:

Stomper Mike was shocked when he received an $84.05 bill for a Uber ride that he took from King's Road to Changi Airport Terminal 2 on Friday afternoon (Sep 22).

He booked the ride at around 3pm, which was not peak hour.

Mike told Stomp in a phone interview that he did not notice the upfront fare or whether there was surge pricing, as he does not use Uber regularly.

He said: "I usually drive unless I have to go to the airport and want to save time."

Even more strangely was how he took a regular taxi from Changi Airport back to King's Road yesterday morning (Sep 24) and it cost him only $22.

"That's four times less for the same route!" said Mike.

"My Uber ride was taken during non-peak hour and traffic was quite smooth, without any jams, so I don't understand why I was charged $84.05. I might as well donate it to charity.

"I hope this alerts other readers, especially the elderly or those who are not familiar with Uber and the system.

"They might not know what they are pressing and have an experience similar to mine."

According to Uberkit.com, a Nissan Elgrand -- which was the car that the Stomper took -- falls under uberXL.

Being the high-capacity version of uberX, uberXL rides are for up to six passengers and hence, typically more expensive. FirstLane.com.sg, however, classifies the vehicle as an ExecLarge.

Stomp did& a check on Uber Singapore's website to get a fare estimate based on the same route that Mike took. Here are our results: