Uber launched uberAUTO, their new rickshaw hailing service, in an event held in collaboration with PITB on Monday. The service was inaugurated by Chairman PITB, Dr Umar Saif, who was also the first to take a ride through uberAUTO.
Uber announced a few days ago that it will launch its rickshaw service in Lahore soon. Today at an event held by Uber and PITB, it officially announced the availability of the service to all users. DIG Operations, Haider Ashraf, CCPO Lahore, Captain Amin Wains, CTO Lahore, Tayyab Cheema, Secretary Excise, Ahmed Bilal, DG IT (PITB), Faisal Yousaf, CEO Uber, Zohair Yousafi and Head of Expansions Uber, Loic Amado were all present at the event and deliberated the operations of the service.
Speaking about the new service, CEO Uber Zohair Yousafi said that:
“Passengers who cannot afford an expensive car ride uberAUTO is the answer for them. Rickshaws are an iconic part of Lahore landscape and so we are excited to unveil another service from platform of Uber. Lahore has wholeheartedly welcomed progressive technology and smart transport solutions while introducing uberAUTO, Uber is contributing to the share of securing the rickshaw culture.”
Price and availability of service
UberAUTO is specially tailored for those people who cannot afford rates of uberGO. Keeping that in view, Uber has divided the pricing schemes into following parts:
- Base Fare: Rs 45
- Charges per Kilometer: Rs 4
- Per minute charges: Rs 1
What these numbers mean in the real life is that UberAUTO will cost nearly half, sometimes even less, as compared to uberGO in most cases. An example of this scenario is that if you want to go from Daewoo Terminal to Johar Town, uberGO will cost about Rs 200 to 240.
UberAUTO on the other hand will only set you back around Rs 90 to 110.
As the service is in its earlier stages, there are fewer rickshaws available right now. This amounts to a waiting time of almost 20 minutes before someone is able to pick you up. This situation is expected to drastically improve in the coming days when more and more rickshaw drivers will sign up for Uber.
Try uberAUTO for free right now
To celebrate the launch of uberAUTO and help customers adjust to this new service, Uber is offering 5 free rides up to Rs 80. To avail this promotional offer, go to your Uber app and enter the promo code: AUTOLAHORE. This offer is valid until 23 October, 2016.
