Melbourne, consistently one of the world’s most liveable cities, is at risk of losing the highly coveted title with congestion levels increasing year-on-year. Studies have shown that there is a strong decline in the quality of living when 40% congestion is reached, a number that Melbourne is fast approaching, according to Austroads Congestion and Reliability review [pg 40]. Considering 74% of Melbourne residents rely solely on their cars to get to work, it should come as no surprise that tackling the issue of congestion would help keep this highly liveable city on top.

At Uber, we believe the future success of how our cities move will rely on getting more people into fewer cars. Today, Uber is excited to be launching UberPool in Melbourne, enabling people to travel around one of Australia’s most thriving metropolitan cities sharing the ride and the savings.

After first piloting the service in Sydney in early April, Uber is ready to launch UberPool in Melbourne. From Monday 11 June, people living in Melbourne can select the UberPool option in their Uber app, allowing them to share a ride with people heading in a similar direction, and saving them up to 50% on their trip (compared with uberX).

Lucas Groeneveld, Uber State Manager, Victoria and Tasmania, said: “After testing out the service in Sydney, we’re excited to be launching UberPool in Melbourne. UberPool helps make it easy and affordable for people going in a similar direction to share the trip and save some money.

We’re confident that over time, UberPool will help solve congestion on Melbourne roads, and allow a quicker, more enjoyable commute.”

By helping get more people into fewer cars, UberPool can help achieve better utilisation of the resources we have on Melbourne roads, cutting congestion and pollution. We have already seen this impact take hold in Sydney, with approximately 200,000 kilometers saved with fewer cars travelling on inner city roads since launch. In cities around the world where Pool is available, around 20% of all rides taken with Uber are pooled rides.

Here’s how it works.

  1. Request and wait for your pickup spot

Enter your destination and request UberPool. Then, wait a few minutes upfront while your trip is matched with other riders heading in a similar direction to find an efficient trip.

  1. Walk to your pickup spot

With UberPool, you’ll walk a short distance to a pickup spot near you – simply follow the in-app walking directions. This helps keep detours to a minimum and pickups faster for everyone.

  1. Share the ride and the cost

UberPool matches you with other riders heading in a similar direction. When you share the ride, you also share the cost, saving up to 50% on your trip, compared with uberX.

  1. Walk to your destination

You’ll be dropped off close to your destination. You’ll need to follow the walking directions in the app for a short walk to your chosen destination.

UberPool is a proven model.

Cheaper rides for passengers: UberPool in Australia is more affordable because the cost of the trip is shared. The cost per trip is up to 50% less than UberX (which in the past has typically been our cheapest service) whether Uber matches you with another passenger or not.

Less congestion on the city streets over time: UberPool is a convenient way for people going in a similar direction at a similar time to share the journey. It’s also another tool to help cities solve congestion and pollution. And because UberPool is cheap and easy to use, over time it offers a credible alternative to car ownership. If you can press a button and get an affordable ride within minutes, why bother to own a car at all?

Less time between trips for driver partners: UberPool means less idle time between trips for driver partners. Experience in other markets with UberPool suggests that it generally means more ride requests overall because as the cost of a trip falls more people use the service and this can lead to more rides for driver partners.

Areas where UberPool is available in Melbourne from today: The UberPool service area extends from Coburg in the north, to Hawthorn, down to Balaclava in the south and then to Footscray in the west.