The San Francisco-based online transportation giant has its service operated in many parts of the world. With the launch of the ridesharing service, it is easy to ride for the destination without any haste.
Unlike the normal taxi service, Uber cars are available anytime and they drop the riders at the requested destination without a bargain.
Table of Contents
Why Riders Choose Uber?
1. The On-demand Ridesharing Giant
This ride-hailing service was started by Travis Kalanick and Garrett Camp in 2009 with its headquarters in San Francisco, California.
The riders were able to book their ride with the help of the mobile app that was introduced by the company and the app is available for both the Apple and Android app users.
The drivers who are working under the brand are not employees, but they are independent contractors who work for the company with their own vehicle. They do not enjoy the benefits of the normal employee, like the retirement plan or health care insurance or other benefits.
The people who own a vehicle and wish to work for Uber can download the app and register themselves and start taking trips.
The drivers have flexible timing, so they can work as a full time or part-time drivers and earn more money. The drivers have to undergo a verification process that involves the background verification, fingerprint registration and they should possess a driver’s license and must have a certificate of the one-day training program conducted by the company.
The riders have to download the mobile app on their smartphone and register in the app, the registration process asks the riders for the personal details and the payment details of the payment process.
To book the ride, the ride has to type the pickup and destination place and send the request. The request is sent to the drivers those who are near the location so that the rider need not wait for a long time. (Uber uses special location-based technology for their app.)
Once when the driver accepts the ride, the rider receives a notification on their mobile phone along with the details of the driver with their photo. So the rider can be aware of the person who is going to ferry them.
At the end of the ride, the rider need not pay cash or find changes to tip the driver; instead, they can make payment using the card. They also have Postpaid service for payment.
2. The Payments and Pricing Process
The pricing in the online ridesharing service is similar to that of the normal taxis, but the payment and the hiring process are handled by the Uber app (Android). The prices are calculated on the time basis, but in some of the cities the price is calculated on the basis of the distance and at the end of the ride, and the prices are automatically billed to the rider’s credit card.
The Uber pricing is comparatively lesser than the normal taxi price and the service is a punctual and reliable service. That is why riders choose Uber over normal taxis.
In some countries, the card payment is not used by all the people, so the company introduced the cash system that allowed people of all strata to ride the vehicle. Some of the countries that make use of the cash payment system are Africa, Singapore, India and etc.
The new cash system was introduced in Hyderabad, India and the project received great attention from the public. The Airtel mobile service partnered with the online ridesharing service and allowed the people to make use of the mobile wallet service to pay the taxi fare and the riders were able to access 4G internet service free of cost.
In the future, 5G is coming. 5G will be having a massive impact on all the digital services.
After the legislation order, the drivers were allowed to carry a signboard that reads that they accept tips because earlier the ridesharing service did not allow its drivers to receive tips from the riders.
3. The Surge Pricing
The online transportation company uses an automated algorithm that is used to increase the taxi fare according to the variation in the demand and supply in the market. This also attracts more drivers to trip during the increased demand.
The riders will be notified during the surge pricing and they can either continue or cancel their ride. Surge pricing is often seen during the festival and holiday times, busy hours, inclement in weather and during disasters.
There was an outrageous situation taken place because of the surge pricing were in 2011 New Year’s eve the pricing was 7 times more than the normal range.
However, the economic efficiency increased in 2 ways, one is that when there is a limitation in the number of drivers, the riders with the highest demand alone request for the service and the other thing is that it motivates the drivers to take more trips because of the increase in the price.
This increase in the piercing during increased demand is common in all the markets, but the online ridesharing company makes its operation transparent to its riders.
4. Regulation and Legal Disputes
The transportation company has faced several disputes in the United States and many other parts of the world. The company is known for violating the governmental and transportation rules that are set by the local government and the authority.
The ridesharing service follows the carpooling service that allows the riders to share their ride with the other riders who are traveling the same direction. This reduces the number of vehicles on the road and also the price range is lesser than the regular Uber ride.
The Taxi Association and the taxi drivers were against the ride-sharing service because of their pricing concept and regulatory issues. Thus protests and strikes broke out in France, Africa, Australia and some parts of the United States.
5. Uber Service in Remote Areas
The company has to go through a lot of cybersecurity concerns to keep its customers safe when it comes to the remote area.
Despite the regulatory issues and disputes, the ridesharing company is quite popular among riders all over the world.
The main advantage of the company is that it provides its service to all parts of the cities including the places where the normal taxis do not offer service. In the remote and the suburbs, the normal taxi service is not available because the chance of getting another trip during the return is very less. So, Uber decided to provide service to all the suburbs and make transportation affordable for all the people.
The company introduced the UberCommute service in 2015 in Chengdu, China and received more response that is similar to that of the ones in New York.
The main problem in the regulation is that the government does not allow the drivers to earn more than a specific fare. The company started the service in Chicago and said that the service will be frequently available in the suburban areas.
Earlier, requesting the ride from the suburbs was a difficult task. But the new service allows the riders to easily cover the destination within ten to twenty minutes. The drivers are also ready to commute to riders from and to the suburbs and make Uber a public transport.
Coming to the conclusion…
Why Riders Choose Uber?
The big concern in front of the Uber is their work culture for the employee. Uber came again in limelight for their toxic work culture. That even disappointed their investors.
This new service helps people to easily commute to their work and day to day activities. The cost of the pricing is also lower than the other services or transports. After the success of the pilot project, the company introduced the service in many suburbs in major countries and are receiving good responses.
