Uber is well known for being the most reliable ride in cities around the world. Push a button, and you know you’re getting a ride. Sometimes we even take heat for being so reliable.
What a lot of folks don’t know about Uber is how inexpensive it is to ride uberX. For the last two years, we have worked our asses off to introduce low-priced alternatives to cities worldwide. We’ve rolled out uberX in dozens of cities and rolled out dozens of price reductions across the country. It’s hard work but has big pay off with millions more people able to experience the Uber magic.
Today we’re taking things to a whole new level.
What if Uber was actually the cheapest ride in every Uber city? What if we lowered rates in 16 of our 24 uberX cities? And what if some of those cuts pushed the envelope of what we even think is possible?
That’s exactly what we’re doing.
On average across all Uber cities, uberX is 26% cheaper than a taxi.
We’re cutting prices by 15-34% in Chicago, SF, Seattle, Los Angeles, Phoenix, and Orange County. And ten additional cities will also see cuts – Minneapolis, Atlanta, Sacramento, Tucson, Indianapolis, Denver, Dallas, Baltimore, Charlotte, Nashville.
What does that look like?
| LOS ANGELES (my hometown!) Beverly Hills to Santa Monica |
uberX | Taxi |
|---|---|---|
| $15.83 | $26.80 |
| SAN FRANCISCO Marina to Financial District |
uberX | Taxi |
|---|---|---|
| $10.35 | $14.70 |
| BOSTON Beacon Hill to Harvard Square |
uberX | Taxi |
|---|---|---|
| $12.55 | $19.37 |
As you can see, we’re going all-in on being the cheapest ride in town.
Cheaper than every other ridesharing option in every city.
Cheaper than the bus. (with fare splitting!)
In the end, tens of millions of city residents have a better, faster, and cheaper option to get around their city.
FAR more economically accessible to FAR more people.
FAR higher quality and FAR more accountability than any other ride.
Some have asked how we do it. How can we keep getting prices down over time?
The answer is in the network effects of our business. More cars and drivers mean better coverage and lower pickup times. Lower pickup times mean better economics for drivers, and thus more drivers and cars. And we want to deliver that value to our riders.
Have fun out there, and please, get a few friends and take a ride from SOMA to the Mission in San Francisco. With our fare split feature, it’s actually #CheaperThanTheBus!
Travis Kalanick
CEO