Uber announces launch of UberPOOL in India

Citizens of Bengaluru will become the first in India to experience UberPOOL in beta in the coming weeks.

They will join millions of commuters in San Francisco, New York City, Boston, Austin and Paris who have been using UberPOOL for months now to get around their cities more efficiently and reliably.

"Since the early days of Uber in Bangalore, we’ve been excited about the idea of providing everyone with easy access to transportation so reliable and affordable, that people can actually rethink car ownership. Following the recent  carpooling initiative by the Bangalore Traffic Police to increase the utilisation of cars on the road, today, we’re announcing our first step toward that vision with UberPOOL," a company statement said.

Launching soon in Bangalore, UberPOOL will help make that vision of fewer cars a reality. With UberPOOL, commuters can share a ride—and split the cost—with another person who happens to be requesting a ride along a similar route.

Riders can save up to 50% while adding only a few minutes of time per trip. With the lower prices, people can move past car ownership, as taking Uber becomes less expensive than using and maintaining a personal vehicle.

Bhavik Rathod, GM Bangalore, Uber said, “India is a top global priority for Uber along with China and UberPOOL. Today, we’re thrilled to announce that we’ll be bringing Uber’s groundbreaking product UberPOOL to India very soon. Our vision for UberPOOL means helping solve some of the toughest problems cities are facing today, whether it’s congestion, pollution, or lack of access to transportation."

"We are working tirelessly towards that vision as we aim to transform urban mobility for over 1.2 billion Indians. With UberPOOL we’ll aim to achieve this vision, one we share with policy makers, to make Bangalore a city of the future - one that looks a whole lot greener, cleaner, and more efficient thanks to fewer cars and more shared rides. We know UberPOOL has the ability to help us achieve this and Bangalore, our first city in India, will serve as the ideal proving ground to make this happen," Rathod said.

UberPOOL will launch soon in beta in select cities in India, starting with Bangalore, to gain insights from commuter adoption and usage. This will help us tremendously in iterating this experimental product to scale and make this shared vision successful.

Uber launched in India less than two years ago. Today, the service is available in 22 Indian cities — more than in any other country outside the United States. With its current base of over 165,000 driver entrepreneurs and continued robust 40 percent month on month growth, Uber has quickly gained significant market share in India of over 40 percent.

In San Francisco, UberPOOL continues to be one of the most affordable and popular ways for riders to get around the city. Riders have saved millions of dollars by taking UberPOOL, and it’s no wonder that in less than a year, nearly half of all Uber rides in San Francisco are POOL rides. In fact, riders taking POOL in San Francisco have also saved nearly 200,000 gallons of gas.