If you’ve ever wanted to arrange a lift home from a party being held a month away, then Uber Reserve is here to answer your prayers. The app’s new feature allows Uber users to book a ride up to 30 days in advance, meaning you always be sorted for a ride home from the airport. It’s not like there aren’t a load of drivers always willing to respond but it’s nice for those folks that like to be sure.
Uber has allowed passengers to schedule rides for some time now — since 2016 in fact — but Uber Reserve is evolving that functionality. Of course, you’ll have to pay a little extra for booking so early in advance but that’s pretty standard when it comes the business of car hire. Maybe it’s planning on introducing some limousines to their fleet of available vehicles…
Currently Uber Reserve is only available in 20 cities around the United States but if the feature is received favourably you can expect to roll out to more cities (and countries) in the near future. The updated system allows users to schedule a ride 30 days in advance, but not sooner than 2 hours before the provided time. If you schedule a ride in advance, you’ll be matched with a driver two hours before your pick-up to ensure that drivers don’t aimlessly wander nearby waiting for the scheduled pick-up. Can’t have them wasting money and time like that, right?
Uber is going old school… kinda
Scheduling also requires an upfront payment rather than after the ride itself. This fits with how traditional car hire companies have done it in the past and will cost between $8-$12 (we’ll have local totals once the feature gets here).
You can expect these scheduled trips to be more expensive than ordering a standard Uber, said Geoffrey Tam-Scott, product manager at Uber. “We’re trying to enable between the rider and driver the most reliable, assured experience that is possible. And so by adding this extra fee to the fare it makes the trips more attractive to drivers.”
The main aspect of a ride-sharing app that separates it from more old-school car and driver hire companies is the efficiency and convenience of the service. Still, catering to folks that like to plan their lives down to that lift to the doctor in 24 days time is an avenue worth exploring. And one that could prove very profitable for Uber.
Now they just need to add a feature that allows our medicine to be delivered at the end of every month. Then we’d never need to leave the house again.
(Source: The Verge)