CHENNAI: Chennaiites are among residents of 17 metros who can book Uber cabs on an hourly basis from Monday.
The new Hourly Rentals package, a 24x7 on-demand, intracity service, will allow riders to retain a car with its driver for several hours and make multiple stops on their journey, thereby providing them greater flexibility as they restart their lives after a lengthy lockdown, said Prabhjeet Singh, Head of Cities, Uber India & South Asia.
Singh told The New Indian Express in a telephonic interview that the package was launched after riders expressed the need for it as they don't want to book cabs multiple times.
"Through the new service, Uber aims to provide riders the convenience they would get with their own car starting at an affordable price point of Rs 189 for a one-hour/10 km package including GST," says Singh.
The service provides great value in several situations, including where riders need to run an errand or want to make it for a business appointment and back without having to book multiple trips. Riders will have the option to select from multiple hourly packages, up to a maximum of 12 hours, he says while highlighting the safety protocols.
The service will also help office-goers in the city as public transport is yet to resume amid the COVID-19 outbreak.
Using Hourly Rentals is as easy as booking any other Uber trip. Riders only need to update their Uber app to the latest version if they are not able to see ‘Hourly Rentals’.
Singh says the service is available in 17 cities across the country, including Delhi NCR, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Chennai, Jaipur, Pune, Ahmedabad, Bhubaneswar, Coimbatore, Ludhiana, Chandigarh, Kochi, Lucknow, Guwahati, Kanpur and Bhopal.
Uber has launched a comprehensive set of safety measures, such as the Go Online Checklist, a mandatory mask policy for both riders and drivers, pre-trip mask verification selfies for drivers, mandatory driver education and an updated cancellation policy allowing both riders and driver to cancel trips if they don’t feel safe.
He also highlighted that Uber has been providing help to drivers through its Rs 25 crore Uber Care Driver fund during the lockdown.