Uber Bangalore scores a win by dropping fares by 75% while autos are on strike

Monday January 06, 2014 , 2 min Read

Autos in Bangalore are on strike today owing to the fuel price hike. Some of the demands include: reduction in tax on auto fuel, cancelation of cases booked by traffic police through simputers, houses for auto drivers through BDA and state housing board and digital meters free of cost for autos with two-stroke engines. Amidst this chaos, the heavily funded Uber has come up with an initiative to drop fares by 75% while the autos are on strike.An announcement on the Uber blog reads:

Uber and its driver partners are working together to try and make sure all Bangaloreans can get around the city. So, on Monday, January 6th, from 00:00 hours until midnight, all Uber trips will be at 75% less than regular fares. This one day 75% cut in fares is for all riders, Uber Newbies and Loyal Uberettos alike.

Uber launched in India with Bangalore first followed by Delhi and Hyderabad. We at YourStory also had a meetup about Exploring hiring and scaling strategies for startups with Uber team.

Uber primarily allows a person to request a car from any mobile phone via text message, iPhone and Android apps. Within minutes, a professional driver in a sleek black car is available to the customer. The fare is automatically charged to your credit card on file, tip included (yes, a credit card is necessary on signing up). The company was founded by Garrett Camp, Travis Kalanick, and Oscar Salazar and has raised more than $350 million in funding. The massive funding allows Uber to take such liberties and take price hits but the returns of doing this for a day gains them a lot of new customers and goodwill.