Automobiles

UBERPOOL SERVICE IN LONDON TO MAKE FARES CHEAPER IF YOU SHARE WITH STRANGERS

PASSENGERS SPLIT TAXI RIDES AND COSTS


(Source: Uber)
(Source: Uber)
USPA NEWS - Uber, the ride-hailing app firm that is taking on taxi drivers around the world, is launching its car-sharing service in London. UberPool will be available to customers in the capital from Friday, enabling passengers to share taxi rides if they are heading in the same direction....
Uber, the ride-hailing app firm that is taking on taxi drivers around the world, is launching its car-sharing service in London. UberPool will be available to customers in the capital from Friday, enabling passengers to share taxi rides if they are heading in the same direction.

The move is likely to further heighten tensions between Uber and the traditional taxi industry, which has been shaken up since the app-based transport service launched in 2012.

UberPOOL lets up to three passengers share a car and save money on the standard fare if they're travelling on a similar route.
This means that when a driver pulls up to collect you, there may already be someone in the car, or that shortly after being picked up, a driver will swing round a corner to pick up another passenger. Both passengers have independent pick-up and drop-off points, but the majority of the journey is shared. Two strangers going from central London to Heathrow may request rides from Covent Garden and Leicester Square, and may be going to different destinations - arrivals and departures - but will share the journey for the majority of the trip. (Telegraph)
London will become only the second European city - after Paris - to have UberPOOL when it begins operation at 4pm on 4 December...The introduction of the scheme comes while Transport for London (TfL) is holding a consultation on a series of measures that would affect Uber....The proposals - which TfL said could 'improve and inform' the regulations that govern the capital's private-hire trade - include enforcing an interval of at least five minutes between a booking and the start of a journey to allow drivers to plan an appropriate route...The number of private-hire driver licences in London has risen from 65,000 in March 2013 to 92,000 earlier this month, according to TfL figures. (Daily Mail)
Andrew Byrne, Uber´s head of public policy in the UK and Ireland, claimed UberPool could help bring an end to car ownership in London when he appeared recently before MPs on the parliamentary business, innovation and skills committee into the digital economy. (The Guardian)

UberPool Publicity on the site :

'It's the same door-to-door Uber experience, except you share it with another great Uber rider like yourself. You can chat them up if it seems you're both in the mood. Or if you've got things to do, just wave hello and get back to business. It's totally up to you.'

Ruby BIRD
http://www.portfolio.uspa24.com/
Yasmina BEDDOU
http://www.yasmina-beddou.uspa24.com/

Liability for this article lies with the author, who also holds the copyright. Editorial content from USPA may be quoted on other websites as long as the quote comprises no more than 5% of the entire text, is marked as such and the source is named (via hyperlink).