Uber launches hourly rentals for multi-hour, multi-stop needs

Ride-hailing platform Uber on Monday launched Hourly Rentals, a 24x7 on-demand, intra-city service, which allows riders to retain a car with its driver for several hours and make multiple stops on their journey.

Through the new service, Uber aims to provide riders the convenience they would get with their own car starting at a price point of Rs 189 for a one-hour/ 10 km package, it said in a statement.

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Riders will have the option to select from multiple hourly packages, up to a maximum of 12 hours.

The service is available in 17 cities -- Delhi-NCR, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Chennai, Jaipur, Pune, Ahmedabad, Bhubaneswar, Coimbatore, Ludhiana, Chandigarh, Kochi, Lucknow, Guwahati, Kanpur and Bhopal, the statement added.

Commenting on the new service, Prabhjeet Singh, Head of Cities, India and South Asia said, 

“As our cities start moving again, many of our riders will have new use cases and different needs from Uber, one of which is keeping their Uber with them for a longer duration as they go through their day. Hourly rentals is our solution for that - it allows users to book their Uber for multiple hours with flexible and affordable packages, make multiple stops on their journey, and of course these rides will provide the highest possible safety standards. For our drivers, this offers them yet another opportunity to earn on the platform.”

After 50 days of suspension due to nationwide lockdown, Uber resumed its operation in May in 25 cities including Jamshedpur, Kochi, Cuttack, and Guwahati (green zone) as well as locations like Amritsar, Rohtak, Gurugram, and Visakhapatnam (orange zone).

Over the past few weeks, Uber has launched a comprehensive set of safety measures such as the Go Online Checklist, a mandatory mask policy for both riders and drivers, pre-trip mask verification selfies for drivers, mandatory driver education and an updated cancellation policy allowing both riders and drivers to cancel trips if they don’t feel safe.

(Disclaimer: Additional background information has been added to this PTI copy for context)