Problem solving is at the heart of what we do at Uber. It could be finding you a ride when you need to run errands, helping you catch an early morning flight or even providing last-mile connectivity when you need to get back home from work at night. 

When all of India was recently under lockdown, we responded swiftly by optimising our platform and network of drivers to support the evolving needs of the country, and offered four new products to help ‘Move What Matters.’ 

We rolled out UberMedic, a dedicated and reliable service for frontline healthcare workers in 29 cities and formalized a partnership with the National Health Authority. We further pledged free rides to state governments and local authorities to support them in the fight against COVID-19, completing over 200,000 free trips. 

With Uber Last Mile Delivery, the aim was to keep vital supply chains running while supporting the government’s objective of keeping hundreds of millions of Indians at home to contain the spread of the virus. As a part of this, we inked critical strategic partnerships within a month of the lockdown with leading e-commerce platforms and retail chains in the grocery segment like Big Basket, Flipkart, Medlife, Spencers, Nature’s Basket, Tender Cuts to ensure last mile delivery of essential supplies.

Uber Essential was introduced to help facilitate essential travel for residents across various cities amidst the extended lockdown. With the full consent of national and local authorities, this limited-mobility solution provided efficient and reliable transportation for riders to locations such as hospitals, pharmacies and clinics, when other public transport options were limited. 

More recently, we launched Uber Connect to help people stay connected by delivering things that matter to them, while encouraging them to stay at home and practice social distancing. 

Beyond benefiting riders, these services helped create earning opportunities for our drivers, who have always been at the heart of our business. We knew the lockdown impacted our drivers’ livelihoods the most and therefore, we did not charge any commission for these services, enabling them to keep 100 percent of billed amounts.

Move What matters catered to the needs of our communities and we’re proud to have done our bit to support dozens of cities and the country in these challenging times.