The selection of routes has happened after studying demand patterns and will primarily address the commute use-case of office-goers at a lower price-point, Bhushan said. (Facebook/@GurugamanCityBus) Ride-hailing platform Uber has entered into a partnership with Gurugram Metropolitan City Bus Services Private Limited (GMCBL), under which the latter will operate buses on specific routes and users of the ride-hailing app will be able to reserve tickets on these 36-seater buses.
Currently, Uber is conducting a pilot with GMCBL, which is a special purpose vehicle with the joint collaboration of Gurugram Metropolitan Development Authority (GMDA), Municipal Corporation of Gurugram (MCG), and Haryana State Industrial and Infrastructure Development Corporation Limited (HSIIDC).
Under this project, GMCBL will provide four air-conditioned buses to begin with for which tickets will be booked on the Uber app. These buses will ply on two routes — Badshahpur bus stand to DLF Cyber Park (Shankar Chowk) via Huda City Centre metro station, and BPTP Astaire Garden (Sector 70) to DLF Cyber Park (Shankar Chowk) via Golf Course Road. Buses will run on each route from 7 am till noon and 3pm to 8 pm daily, and the pricing for the tickets begins at Rs 7 per kilometer, Uber said in a statement.
Speaking with The Indian Express, Nitish Bhushan, Uber’s director, central operations—India, said that the move to enter the bus segment builds on Uber’s strategy to become a multi-modal transportation platform.
“Uber is typically associated with cabs, etc, but our vision is to be the platform for any kind of transport, and address all use-cases, price-points, and ideally do this in a way where we are moving more people in fewer vehicles,” he said.
Bhushan also pointed out that the buses under this project will be accessible exclusively by users who have booked tickets on the Uber app. GMCBL has currently deployed four buses under the pilot, but is expected to add to this.
The selection of routes has happened after studying demand patterns and will primarily address the commute use-case of office-goers at a lower price-point, Bhushan said.