Cars and trucks were stranded on sections of Interstate 95 on Tuesday, January 4, 2022, near Quantico, Va. Nearly 48 miles of the Interstate were closed due to ice and snow.
Steve Helber / AP
hide captions
switch captions
Steve Helber / AP
Cars and trucks were stranded on sections of Interstate 95 on Tuesday, January 4, 2022, near Quantico, Va. Nearly 48 miles of the Interstate were closed due to ice and snow.
Steve Helber / AP
A Virginia man got a refund of the $600 he was charged for an Uber ride after he became stuck in a mile-long traffic jam in Virginia had a number of drivers stuck on the interstate for more than a day.
Andrew Peters, of Richmond, Va., traveled from Dulles International Airport on Monday after a recent trip to San Francisco. I said WTOP-FM that he had no clue what was happening in Virginia and how severe the winter weather was.
Peters’ Uber driver also didn’t realize how terrible traffic on I-95 was, ending up on the freeway and getting stuck in traffic, according to the WTOP. Virginia State Police said several tractor-trailers plowed into the slippery interstate, rendering the road impassable – and causing a large number of backup drivers.
“It was pretty scary,” Peters told WTOP. “We have no food or water.”
After being stuck on the highway for a total of nine hours, Peters finally made it home – paying a $200 bill for his ride. When he got home, however, Peters said the car-sharing company charged him an extra $400, bringing his total from Dulles International Airport to Richmond to $600.
Peters said after several attempts, he disputed the additional charge with Uber. The car-sharing company contacted him on Wednesday to apologize for the incident.
This image provided by the Virginia Department of Transportation shows a closed section of Interstate 95 near Fredericksburg, Va. Monday, January 3, 2022. Both the northbound and southbound sections of the highway are closed due to snow and ice.
AP
hide captions
switch captions
AP
This image provided by the Virginia Department of Transportation shows a closed section of Interstate 95 near Fredericksburg, Va. Monday, January 3, 2022. Both the northbound and southbound sections of the highway are closed due to snow and ice.
AP
“They were sorry to hear that I had…so many problems with the app, overriding, and with the highway and that they wanted a full refund to me,” Peters told WTOP.
In an email to NPR, Uber spokeswoman Michelle Blackwell said that Peters had been refunded after the “terrible ordeal”.
“We appreciate his patience throughout this process and are delighted that he and his Uber driver made it home safely,” Blackwell said.
According to Uber’s website, factors such as heavy traffic or bad weather can cause a passenger’s trip to take longer than expected. The company says passenger fares can go up to compensate a driver for the extra time caused.
Motorists were stuck in traffic for hours on I-95 following icy conditions and snow-covered roads on Monday. The National Weather Service said up to 11 inches of snow fell in the area during Monday’s winter storm.
