I’m a regular customer of Uber and I can say definitely say that it has made traveling much easier. The introduction of the Uber pool service was a masterstroke for cheap travel. Let me give you an example, auto drivers ask for Rs 50 from the nearest metro station to my home.
And yet, I managed to reach my college through Uber pool for Rs 75 which is 9 kilometers further away. Not to mention I get air condition for the whole ride. It doesn’t take a genius to decide which deal is better.
If things progress as expected, Uber might soon extend their dependable services to buses and mini-vans. They intend to invest heavily in India.
After Uber’s previous plans for China hit a wall due to stiff competition from local company Didi Chuxing, the were forced to settle for a merger. The next sensible move was apparently to focus on India.
According to recent Bloomberg report, “India will be crucial in terms of both demonstrating success in large international markets and long-term growth potential”.
Unlike China, it does not face as stiff a competition with Ola, its biggest rival here. Uber boasts of vastly superior finances which it plans to use to win over the country.
Further plans include enhancing the employee capacity at its engineering base in Bengaluru as well as hire an additional one million drivers within the next two years.
The bus service is only a part of Uber’s much broader vision known as Uber everything which plans to offer rides on anything that carries passengers from one place to another.
If it can pull the bus and mini-van service off, it will be a breath of fresh air keeping in mind how mundane and crammed the current bus services in India are.
I’ve seen people almost falling out of the bus doors and yet they choose to travel with barely any space. An organized and cheap bus service is what this country has been crying out for.
You might be familiar with the shuttle service that Ola came out with. It did not manage to garner as much attention as Ola would have liked. But then again, they do not have the deep pockets which Uber do.
If they invest carefully and execute with precision then there is definitely a scope for Uber to competently deliver what they promise and make huge profits out of it.
We could be on the brink of a much-needed overhaul of public transportation.
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