Uber expands uberPOOL to three more Indian cities

US-based cab aggregator Uber recently said that it will expand its carpooling service to three more Indian cities -- Hyderabad, Kolkata and Mumbai by June 5.

The service, which was launched in India about six months ago, is currently available in Delhi and Bengaluru.

uberPOOL enables people going the same way at the same time to share their journey -- bringing carpooling at the tap of a button. More people in fewer cars means cheaper rides for passengers and less congestion over time, Uber India President Amit Jain told PTI.

Since the launch of uberPOOL in Delhi and Bengaluru, 25 percent of all trips in the two cities are now on uberPOOL, he added. Uber's local rival, Ola also has a similar product, Ola Share, that allows users to carpool to get cheaper rides.

Apart from reducing congestion and pollution in our cities over time, uberPOOL also means results in riders having to pay less and drivers spending less idle time between rides. It is a simple yet powerful example of how we can use technology to transform our cities, Jain said.

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The company said an estimated 798 metric tonnes of CO2 emissions cut have been achieved with users using uberPOOL.

Since the start of this year, uberPOOL riders in India have cut the number of kilometres driven down by seven million, which translates to over 300,000 litres of fuel saved... In Delhi and Bengaluru, over 50,000 riders are opting to share their trip via uberPOOL each week, he said.

Globally, over one lakh people take pooled trips on Uber every week in over 11 cities, including New York, Los Angeles, Beijing, Chengdu, and Shanghai. In China, the number of uberPOOL trips has grown to over 30 million per month. Recently the company had raised $3.5 billion (£2.4 billion) from Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund reports Reuters.