Uber Made a Killing on the Metro Shutdown Wednesday

Wednesday's shutdown of the Metro rail system was good news for Uber, which had a huge increase in riders and charged surge pricing for much of the day.

Uber reported on its website that a "record number of partners were on the road -- an increase of 50 percent over last Wednesday's rush." Surge pricing was in effect for much of the day, although Uber claimed that the average surge multiple stayed below 1.7 during the morning rush.

"We're thrilled we could step up and work with the other options in the transportation ecosystem to keep DC moving," Uber said.

It was also a good chance for Uber to put its new UberPOOL service in front of customers, which allows riders to share a car with others in order to get a cheaper fare. Uber reported a 140 percent increase in UberPOOL riders compared to the same time last week.

In addition to the surge pricing, wait times were long -- sometimes longer than 20 minutes in areas where an Uber driver usually is just three or four minutes away.

When logging into the Uber app on a smartphone, the following notice popped up: "Due to the unexpected Metro service suspension, demand will be higher than normal. Surge pricing will be capped for the duration of the closure. Please be patient if you experience high ETAs."

The Metro was reopened Thursday after being shut down for 29 hours for safety checks. A cable fire near McPherson Square on Monday triggered the shutdown, as officials became concerned that it was similar to a fire at L'Enfant Plaza last year that resulted in the death of one person.