8 Things to Know Before You Book An UberMoto Ride in India!

Uber, the taxi aggregator service, today launched their Bike-Taxi service - UberMOTO - in the city of Bengaluru, India. This is a unique kind of personalized private transport wherein the users can book bikes and scooters, and travel to shorter distances in the city, preferably.

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With this odd proposition, Bengaluru became the company's second test city for implementing this bike taxi service, at a large scale. Here are the top 8 facts and features of the UberMOTO service that is being rolled out by Uber in India.

Trial run in Bengaluru

Uber India has repeatedly claimed that their demand is the highest in Bengaluru, out of all the major cities in the country. So, it was but natural for them to initiate a pilot of their experimental UberMOTO service in the city. There's another reason to it, though. With Bengaluru's average traffic speed going down to a painful 10km/hour, two-wheelers are fast becoming the preferred mode of transport for many office-goers. To capture this growing audience, Uber has picked Bengaluru as the first city for the trial run of the UberMOTO.

Cheap fare - Rs. 3/kilometer

With Uber fares already at their all-time low, the startup has gone ahead and priced their UberMOTO service in Bengaluru, starting at just Rs. 3/km. The base fare is Rs. 15 and minimum fare is also the same. While the maximum price range goes till Rs. 5/km, it is highly unlikely that surge pricing will be a part of the whole model, but we shall have to wait and see. Also, Uber's commission will be 20% of the complete fare.

Scooters, Mopeds and Motorbikes

The UberMOTO service will be including almost all two-wheelers ranging from scooters to motorbikes to even mopeds. This is to ensure that majority of two-wheeler drivers can hop onto this service. Uber is also offering registration forms for two-wheeler owners to sign up to this service as a gateway to recoup some of the costs during their trips. This is a way of integrating pooling with technology.

Timings suited to office hours

The UberMOTO will be operational in Bengaluru from 7AM in the morning till around 9PM in the evening, offering flexibility for office-goers, that is the major audience for the taxi aggregator company.

Retains Uber's generic features

With UberMOTO, the customer need not worry about safety or inconvenience as the registered drivers will be provided with state-of-the-art GPS live tracking devices as well as smartphones for location tracking. The smartphones will have the official Uber driver application as well as necessary data and location services that the company's car partners also incorporate.

Double-point feedback

Uber has been based on a very fundamental point of providing similar comfort to the customers as well as their driver partners. Being one of the first taxi aggregators to incorporate the double-point feedback system, Uber enabled drivers to also have a say the way Uber shapes its policy and rules. While the customer has a feedback system to rate the drivers they travel with, the drivers also can rate their customers according to their behavior - leading to suspension or rejection of these customers, in the long run.

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Spare helmet for pillion riders

With Indian rules ascertaining both the two-wheeler riders to wear helmets at all times, Uber has ensured that safety is given the first priority when it comes to their UberMOTO bike taxi service. The driver partners will be required to compulsorily carry a spare helmet and provide it to the rider, following a connection is successful.

Bangkok was first city to implement

Bengaluru's pilot of the UberMOTO service is the not the first one by the company. Recently, on February 24, Bangkok, Thailand, was the first city in the world where the UberMOTO program was implemented. That the company has gotten it to India in less than 10 days on initiation shows how important the Indian market is for Uber.

P.S: India is Uber's second-biggest market after their home ground, the US. Just in case, you were wondering.