Uber Testing Bus Services In Delhi: May Launch Bus Rides Soon

Uber recently announced that they were researching if buses could be added to their public mobility solutions platform in Delhi. The company released the feature on Tuesday to understand preferences of people using the city's public transport.

Dara Khosrowshahi, the CEO at Uber said that the Uber bus service is a new product that the company wants to launch. He added that the company was testing to understand how the service works. Uber is confident that the product can be marketed in cities like Delhi.

Once launched, Uber Bus services will function like a shuttle -picking up and dropping off customers at designated stops. The application is fairly simple to use. The first step is to enter a destination, select the 'Bus' option, review the fair and tap request.

The servers then take up to five minutes to match all other commuters around the area, calculates a suitable route and pick up location for all the commuters. Once that's done, the application displays trip information - driver and bus information, and a pick up location.

As is with Uber's cab service, commuters can track their bus. The vehicle will wait for two minutes at the designated pick up location before heading towards its next destination. Once on the bus, commuters have to scan a bar-code to generate a ticket. Payments can be maid in cash to the driver or via the Uber smartphone application.

Uber applies the same principle while dropping commuters. It calculates a suitable drop-off location for all the commuters traveling to the same area. To cater for last mile connectivity, the application will offer walking directions to a commuters final destination.

In related news, the company launched Uber Bus services in Cairo, Egypt, in October 2018 and the service is doing well for the company. The Uber Bus app allows for people to book seats on air conditioned buses that frequent popular routes, ensuring that there is a ride nearby.

Thoughts About Uber Testing Bus Services In Delhi

Good job we think. While the government's public transport is fairly functional, the country needs private bus operators. That will offer quality rides, and will indirectly give the government more time and space to decommission older buses & commission new ones. We hope these services are launched across all India's populated cities.