Celebrating 3 years of ridesharing in New Zealand

Three years ago today we brought ridesharing to New Zealand, since then we’ve been overwhelmed by the way riders and drivers have embraced Uber as new way to get from A to B and earn money. Whether it’s a ride to work or a trip home after a night out, 300,000 riders are enjoying the convenience, reliability and safety of Uber. While more than 4,000 driver-partners are benefiting from access to extra money with the flexibility to work when and where they want. Today we’re celebrating the positive impact ridesharing has had for riders, drivers and our cities.

Before we launched ridesharing getting around wasn’t easy. Unless you lived near a public transport hub, commuting or visiting a friend across town usually required owning a car. Now Kiwis in our three major cities – Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch – can push a button and a ride will arrive in under 5 minutes. We’ve also launched uberASSIST to help hundreds of local residents with different mobility requirements access the same safe, reliable and affordable transport using their smartphones.

Likewise heading out for a drink either meant organising a lift, catching the last bus home or unfortunately getting behind the wheel when drunk. Sadly too many people choose the latter, with 30-40% of road deaths caused by alcohol. Thankfully when people can request a reliable way to get home safely at the push of a button — no matter the time or place —they make better, safer choices. In fact a study from Empirica Research found nearly seven in ten riders say that Uber has helped them personally avoid drink driving, while nearly half of riders reported that since they started using Uber, they are less likely to drive themselves on occasions when they have been drinking.

It’s not just local residents who’ve benefited from the introduction of ridesharing, for many overseas visitors Uber provides a familiar, easy and convenient way for them to explore the city. Thanks to features like cashless payments and over 70 different languages in the Uber app, overseas visitors from more than 75 countries have taken a seamless ride in New Zealand since we launched.

Of course transport as reliable as running water wouldn’t be possible without the thousands of drivers who share rides every week. This includes people from all walks of life, such as retirees, those unemployed or underemployed, single parents, carers, entrepreneurs, teachers and graduates. Whatever drives these people, they drive with Uber to work on a schedule that fits around their life, rather than the other way around. After three years we know that for many people driving with Uber is just an hour or two here or there to earn some extra cash, with nearly half of partners driving for less than 10 hours week.

In fact, increasingly people do not talk about becoming “an Uber driver.” It’s much simpler decision: I’m going to make some extra money while using my car.  Thanks to features like Driver Destinations – which lets commuters share a ride on the way to or from work – hundreds of Kiwis are now able earn some extra cash while reducing the the number of cars on the road during peak rush hour.

Finally, thanks to our work with organisations like Auckland Transport, ridesharing is helping to complement and extend the reach of public transport. For example, Auckland Transport’s Journey Planner tool, means local residents can use public transport timetables to synchronize Uber rides with bus, train and ferry connections. We’re now working with cities and local transport systems across the country to solve the first and last mile problem, and help feed more people into, and effectively expand the reach of existing public transport services in Auckland.

Ridesharing has already transformed the way the our cities move. In the future, it’s our aim to be part of cities where every journey is a shared journey, using cars that are already on the road and technology that’s already in our pockets. A future where people have equal access to affordable transport; spend less of their income on cars or commutes; less time stuck behind the wheel; and parking spaces are replaced by parks and affordable housing. The people who are going to help make this vision a reality are already with us today, it’s the hundreds of thousands of Kiwis who share rides every week to make our cities better connected, more economically vibrant and easier places to live. This is just the beginning of the journey, here’s to our shared future in New Zealand.