Exclusive | US Open rideshare ruckus hits fever pitch as weary spectators face eye-watering surge pricing: A st show
The “Grand Slam” strikes again.Chaos engulfed US Open fans after Coco Gauff’s semifinal loss Thursday night — as exhausted attendees faced insane rideshare price hikes for short journeys, ridiculously long wait times and heavy traffic when exiting Arthur Ashe Stadium.The troublesome transit situation has been pissing off tennis fans trying to snag a ride after matches since last year, when US Open organizers first changed the designated pick-up/drop-off lot from its longtime spot at the Unisphere outside USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center to Lot H of the New York Hall of Science.Though the change was made in an effort to simplify transit, one anonymous tournament worker told The Post that it spurred the opposite effect and was “confusing everyone,” adding that there have been “a lot of complaints about the entire system.”This year’s attendees, like Silvio Silva, agree, complaining that the US Open transit chaos has only grown worse, stooping to a new low this year.The 29-year-old New Yorker and his friend, Patrick Kana, were appalled by the insane prices that appeared on their Uber app when trying to catch a ride home Tuesday night after what was declared the latest match in the tournament’s 145-year history, which wrapped up at 3:33 a.m.To get from the Flushing Meadows venue to Valley Stream, Long Island — a ride that would normally only cost around $55 — ranged from $197.97 for an UberXl, $275.96 for an UberX, with priority pick-up ringing in at $283.99 Tuesday night.In an Instagram reel posted by Silva, Kana holds his phone showing the price hikes and joked that he “might just sleep” at the Queens stadium, before the pair walked a short distance to Lot E by the nearby Home Depot to call an Uber for a comparatively reasonable $56 ($65 without his small discount).Kana told The Post that the combination of the stadium’s wildly large crowds herding towards public transit and their own sleep deprivation made them yearn for the ...