Bring on ride-sharing: Uber’s about to launch UberPool in London – making journeys 25 per cent cheaper
Uber will launch its ride-sharing service in London this Friday, the company said today – although it may be short-lived.
The ride-hailing app, which has been heavily criticised by London's black cabbies, said its new service, UberPool, will give Londoners the option of sharing their journey with another passenger heading in the same direction at the same time.
Passengers each pay a fixed fare, which is 25 per cent less than UberX, its current cheapest option in the capital.
The company said the service has proved popular in the 15 other cities where it has launched the service: in San Francisco, UberPool now makes up more than half of all Uber's trips in the city.
However, its existence in London may be brief, if a consultation by Transport for London is given the go-ahead.
Under the new rules, ride-sharing will be banned, while a minimum waiting time of five minutes could become the law for rides hailed via taxi apps.
Today Uber said its new service will be cleaner, with fewer cars on the capital's streets.
"By ensuring only one car is making the journey rather than two or three, UberPool will help cut congestion and pollution.
"In its first eight months in Los Angeles, for example, passengers did over five million Pool trips – cutting the number of miles driven across town by 7.9 million and carbon dioxide pollution by 1,400 metric tons."
"We believe UberPool can become a credible alternative to car ownership," added Jo Bertram, regional general manager of Uber in the UK.
"If you can press a button and get an affordable ride across town within minutes at any time of day or night, why bother to own a car at all?"