Shared rides in Uber, which haven’t been an option since the start of the pandemic, are back in select cities.
The ride-sharing service has resumed the practice, which lets people share a car with strangers going in the same direction, in New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago, San Francisco, Phoenix, San Diego, Portland, Ore., Indianapolis, and Pittsburgh. Other cities will be added later this summer.
Competitor Lyft brought back the option in Philadelphia and Miami last year and has announced plans to expand it to San Francisco, San Jose, Denver, Las Vegas, and Atlanta.
Uber, in announcing the return of the service, which is now called “UberX Share” instead of “Uber Pool,” said that people who select that option will get an upfront discount and will receive a 20% discount on the total fare if another rider joins along the way.
To prevent delays, Uber says it will match riders only heading in the same direction, and arrival times should be no more than eight minutes later than a standard Uber X ride.
The carpool option in ride-sharing services was paused in March 2020 as people isolated at the start of COVID-19’s spread. Uber said it has worked with both drivers and passengers to design the new program to make rides more affordable, but it did not mention any health measures in its press release.
It’s the latest in a series of announcements by the company, which in April rolled out a service letting riders book rides by the hour with unlimited stops.
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