Uber yesterday announced launch of its carpooling service, UberPOOL in Singapore. The ride-sharing facility will go on floors from July 1, i.e. tomorrow.
UberPOOL allows people headed in the same direction to share their ride and split the cost of trip among them. The service provides more riders with more trips and creates greater efficiency on the road by the carpooling method. UberPOOL fares are around 25 cents cheaper than its normal service uberX which is typically its cheapest service.
The fare will remain same no matter how many passengers there are on the ride. Each car can take a maximum of four bookings, and each booking can have a maximum of two passengers.
Uber Singapore general manager Warren Tseng said,
Pooling hasn’t taken off because it’s a very manual process involving scheduling and people being at the same place at the right time. Without many cars available on a very reliable basis, pooling is very difficult to pull off unless you have that scale.
Getting people in Singapore to share rides would require a “habit change”, incentivised by cheaper fares, Tseng added. UberPOOL will be successful if riders have good riding etiquette such as not making the driver and other passengers wait.
Uber added that uberPOOL also benefits drivers who will spend less “dead time” driving unpaid while between paying trips.
To avail the service, rider has to request a ride by selecting uberPOOL option in the app. The driver will pick you up meanwhile UberPOOL will match you with another commuter headed in the same direction. When driver accepts the second request, the mapped route will automatically update to accommodate the new pick-up and drop-off locations. At the end of the trip, passengers will receive electronic receipts on their phone and can pay like they usually do.
UberPool first launched in August 2014 in the U.S., and has rolled it out in over 18 cities globally, including New York, Los Angeles, Beijing, Chengdu, Shanghai, Jakarta and Manila.
