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With an aim to offer carpooling and ride-sharing as credible solutions to the growing menace of rising pollution levels and congestion in the capital, Uber in Delhi NCR, is running a campaign called #SwitchToPool, under which it has announced ‘Pool Thursdays’. As part of Pool Thursday, Uber will encourage more riders to use Pool by making that the default option on the app for select riders, during the rush hours. However, there’s a catch to the entire campaign. During the rush hours on Thursdays, Uber will turn off the UberGO ride option, which means users who’d want to still go for a cab to themselves will have to opt for the more expensive, UberX.
The UberGO is quite popular in India for its relatively affordable fare. Between the UberGO and UberX, there is a significant difference of Rs 15 between the fare of the two, with UberGo’s base fare in Delhi NCR being Rs 40, and Rs 55 for UberX. Uber, on the other hand, believes the move will help save fuel as well as sensitize users about carpooling.
“Congestion is more than just an annoyance; it’s a drain on our cities, our economies, our health, and our planet. Across India, traffic congestion leads to an estimated loss of Rs 60,000 crore per year, including fuel wastage. Currently, on an average we have just one person in a car at any given point, with the average asset utilization rate as low as 5 percent. This clearly indicates a strong need and opportunity to put ‘more people in fewer cars’, said Prabhjeet Singh, General Manager Delhi & NCR, Uber India.
As a part of ‘Pool Thursdays’, Uber will also be announcing various promotional offers in the coming days to raise awareness about pooling rides. For the ones who don’t know, UberPool essentially enables people going the same way at the same time to share their journey, by carpooling their ride with other people for almost half the fare. In Delhi NCR itself, since the launch of UberPool, the company claims, over 31 percent Uber trips were pool, resulting in saving more than 12 million kilometres being driven on the roads, which Uber interestingly equates to 31 trips to the moon.
Uber is constantly evolving according to the demands of its users. While Uber recently brought in a significant change to its app worldwide for a smoother and a quicker user experience, Uber has made some area and country-specific changes to its services as well. Talking about India, after debuting in the country three years ago, Uber launched many features that were exclusive for Indian users.
For instance, at the time of its launch in India, Uber only had the UberX and UberBLACK services, which were then relatively expensive than usual taxi fares. However, looking at the cost-conscious Indian market, in November 2014, Uber launched the UberGO service, featuring a new fleet of low cost hatchbacks. With the introduction of UberGO, the service started to make a lot more sense to daily commuters with the fares priced even lower than kaali-peeli taxis.
Similarly, earlier restricted to mobile wallet payments, last year Uber rolled out the option of payment by cash. Many Indian riders have been apprehensive about using mobile wallets like Airtel Money or Paytm as the only modes of payment, consequently keeping them from taking an Uber frequently. However, with the introduction of cash, it was like taking an autorickshaw or any other kaali-peeli.
Also, with increasing number of instances of molestation, rape and accidents, which involved Uber, the company found it necessary to introduce an Emergency SOS option. The feature immediately connects a user with local authorities in the event of an emergency while on an Uber ride. Two things happens when a rider pushes the SOS option, they are immediately able to connect with local law enforcement on the phone, and a real-time ‘SOS alert’ is automatically generated and sent directly to the local Police control room.
http://www.bgr.in/news/uber-to-force-pooling-expensive-uberx-upon-users-on-thursdays-now/
The UberGO is quite popular in India for its relatively affordable fare. Between the UberGO and UberX, there is a significant difference of Rs 15 between the fare of the two, with UberGo’s base fare in Delhi NCR being Rs 40, and Rs 55 for UberX. Uber, on the other hand, believes the move will help save fuel as well as sensitize users about carpooling.
“Congestion is more than just an annoyance; it’s a drain on our cities, our economies, our health, and our planet. Across India, traffic congestion leads to an estimated loss of Rs 60,000 crore per year, including fuel wastage. Currently, on an average we have just one person in a car at any given point, with the average asset utilization rate as low as 5 percent. This clearly indicates a strong need and opportunity to put ‘more people in fewer cars’, said Prabhjeet Singh, General Manager Delhi & NCR, Uber India.
As a part of ‘Pool Thursdays’, Uber will also be announcing various promotional offers in the coming days to raise awareness about pooling rides. For the ones who don’t know, UberPool essentially enables people going the same way at the same time to share their journey, by carpooling their ride with other people for almost half the fare. In Delhi NCR itself, since the launch of UberPool, the company claims, over 31 percent Uber trips were pool, resulting in saving more than 12 million kilometres being driven on the roads, which Uber interestingly equates to 31 trips to the moon.
Uber is constantly evolving according to the demands of its users. While Uber recently brought in a significant change to its app worldwide for a smoother and a quicker user experience, Uber has made some area and country-specific changes to its services as well. Talking about India, after debuting in the country three years ago, Uber launched many features that were exclusive for Indian users.
For instance, at the time of its launch in India, Uber only had the UberX and UberBLACK services, which were then relatively expensive than usual taxi fares. However, looking at the cost-conscious Indian market, in November 2014, Uber launched the UberGO service, featuring a new fleet of low cost hatchbacks. With the introduction of UberGO, the service started to make a lot more sense to daily commuters with the fares priced even lower than kaali-peeli taxis.
Similarly, earlier restricted to mobile wallet payments, last year Uber rolled out the option of payment by cash. Many Indian riders have been apprehensive about using mobile wallets like Airtel Money or Paytm as the only modes of payment, consequently keeping them from taking an Uber frequently. However, with the introduction of cash, it was like taking an autorickshaw or any other kaali-peeli.
Also, with increasing number of instances of molestation, rape and accidents, which involved Uber, the company found it necessary to introduce an Emergency SOS option. The feature immediately connects a user with local authorities in the event of an emergency while on an Uber ride. Two things happens when a rider pushes the SOS option, they are immediately able to connect with local law enforcement on the phone, and a real-time ‘SOS alert’ is automatically generated and sent directly to the local Police control room.
http://www.bgr.in/news/uber-to-force-pooling-expensive-uberx-upon-users-on-thursdays-now/
