bead流利说商务英语Level5 Unit2 Part5 Driving Demand

2021年1月9日发(作者：孟繁育)
流利说商务英语Level5 Unit2 Part5 Driving Demand
I'm Rachel wood and this is Tech Talk from New York city.
Today I am joined by Bob Evans, head of economic research at CiCi taxi.
Welcome Bob.
Thank you, Rachel. I'm very happy to be here.

Now Bob, since was founded in 2011 CICI taxi has been very successful.
But your company has also upset some users with its surge pricing policy.
Can you explain to us what surge pricing is?
Surge pricing is when CICI raises driver rates when many people need a ride at the
same time.

For example, if there is a concert, the area will be very crowded afterwards.
And when all these people log on to the CICI APP and call for a ride, driver rates will
go up.
This means users will need to pay more money than usual to get a ride.

Now why would CICI do this?
The policy has been criticized for taking advantage of users.
It's been said that you are charging people more money when they need rides the
most.
Well, I can understand why some people may feel that way.
But they need to think about surge pricing in terms of supply and demand.

What do you mean?
In the case of CICI users are on the demand side and drivers are on the supply side.
When there is heavy demand in an area, a greater supply of drivers will be needed
there.
Racing driver rates encourages them to travel to that specific area.
It helps to balance supply with increased demand.

So surge pricing gives drivers financial incentive.
If there’s not enough supply to meet demand users will be waiting longer for a ride.
Right, and when your supply is people, it's especially important to take care of them.
Otherwise, a competitor will eventually take away your supply source and slow
your growth rate.

So are you saying that users should stop complaining and accept surge pricing?
No, but the perspective of our drivers should be considered. This is the reality.
CICI did not invent surge pricing, it's used in many industries.
Its basic economic principles really.
All right, thank you, Bob, let's take a break, we’ll be back in two minutes.