- Uber launches its carpooling option in Sydney on April 3 after years overseas
- Company claims it will halve the cost of trips for users heading the same way
- Spent past five years analysing the most popular routes to optimise app
Uber will finally be worthy of the its ‘ride-sharing’ marketing when it launches a carpool option in Australia next week.
The behemoth taxi competitor claims UberPool will halve trips for users by letting them split the cost with others taking the same journey.
UberPool has been running in the U.S. and overseas for a few years and optimised for Australia after analysing the most popular routes in the past five years.
Uber will finally be worthy of the its ‘ride-sharing’ marketing when it launches a carpool option in Australia next week
The behemoth taxi competitor claims UberPool will halve trips for users by letting them split the cost with others taking the same journey
The service will launch in Sydney on April 3 before being rolled out across the country later this year.
Uber head of cities in Australia and New Zealand Henry Greenacre said it would add a few minutes to the trip but save users a lot of money.
‘The key here is that people already in the car don’t have to deviate too far away from a direct route in order to pick up other customers,’ he told News Corp.
UberPool has been running in the U.S. and overseas for a few years and optimised for Australia after analysing the most popular routes in the past five years
‘The more likely it is that we can match you moving in a similar direction at a similar time as someone else, the bigger the discounts we can offer.’
Uber’s carpool launch is timed to compete with new players Carpool Club in Sydney, Taxify nationally, and major competitor Lyft potentially arriving.
Mr Greenacre claimed the service would take cars off the road, despite studies showing Uber and others like it actually took people off public transport and bikes.
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