Uber's bike taxi service uberMOTO says 'Namaskaram Hyderabad'
Aggregated cabs major Uber today announced the entry of their bike-sharing service, uberMOTO, onto Hyderabadi roads. In the T-Hub event attended by Travis Kalanick, Founder and CEO, and KT Rama Rao, Telangana Cabinet Minister for IT E&C, MAUD, Industries & Commerce, Uber announced that the service will go live in January 2017 and become one of the city's cheapest modes of public transport.
Riders would receive driver and bike details just as they do for other Uber car taxi rides, as well as all standard safety features before, during and after the ride, including GPS tracking, two-way feedback and the ability to share trip details with family and friends. Since both the driver as well as the pillion rider must wear a helmet as per the law, uberMOTO drivers will carry one helmet for the rider.
Claiming that it will be one of the most affordable transportation options in the city, Uber announced that the service will have fares as low as Rs 20 for the first three km, and Rs 5 per km thereafter.
As of now, uberMOTO plies the roads of Bengaluru, Ahmedabad and Gurgaon in India, and is also available in the Southeast Asian countries of Indonesia and Vietnam. The company claims that it is especially well-suited for first mile or last mile connectivity, getting people from their homes or offices to metro stations and vice -versa.
Amit Jain, President of India and South Asia, Uber India, said, “The government of Telangana has once again shown its commitment to embracing technology-enabled solutions. By recognising how we can transform urban mobility options in our cities through progressive regulations, Telangana is leading the way in bringing about the change that our cities need.”
In fact, the on-demand cab giant has also signed an MoU with the Hyderabad Metro Rail Limited to help extend the reach of the metro using uberMOTO.
This entry is in tune with Uber's rapid global expansion plans. Today, Uber is available in over 450 cities across 73 countries, and its service is available in 29 Indian cities - which is the highest coverage that the app has in any country outside the United States.