Uber Technologies Inc has announced that US passengers, except for those in New York City, have to pay a fuel surcharge from March 16 as the company tries to address the soaring gas and fuel prices in the country since President Joe Biden imposed a ban on Russian oil for the war on Ukraine, New York Post reported. 

Based on the location, customers have to pay a surcharge fee of either 45 or 55 cents for an Uber ride and 35 or 45 cents for each Uber Eats order. New York Post reported Uber saying that the money would go directly to workers. 

Currently, the surcharge is in place for 60 days, after which Uber will make an adjustment based on feedback from customers and employees. 

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Uber has made this decision following protests from several drivers on social media, who noted that rising gas prices was severely eating into their incomes and questioned whether they should get behind the wheel anymore. 

Notably, the ban on Russian imports has impacted gas and oil prices. Russian President Vladimir Putin noted as much, saying in a meeting with officials, “Prices [in the U.S.] are high, inflation is unprecedentedly high, has reached historic highs”, Newsweek reported. Putin added, “They are trying to blame the results of their own mistakes on us. We have absolutely nothing to do with it”. 

Before Biden’s ban was announced, a poll conducted by Quinnipiac University noted that 71% of Americans supported the oil ban even if it meant they had to pay higher prices. Republican senator Ted Cruz went a step further in highlighting how Europe must follow suit. He said, “The next step needs to be to work to get Europe to do the same thing, to wean themselves from Russian oil and gas. And the way to do that is to have alternative sources, and the obvious alternative source is the United States”. 

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Notably, the UK will phase out Russian oil by the end of the year and the European Union (EU) also met recently to discuss reduced dependence on Russia for its oil and gas needs.