Uber expands its motorbike-hailing service in India

Uber’s bike-hailing service, UberMOTO, will be available in another Indian city starting next month.

The company had piloted the service in Bangalore earlier this year by allowing users to take short rides on motorbikes for fares as low as Rs 3/km. Now its expanding it to Hyderabad.

UberMOTO in Hyderabad will offer customers rides at Rs 20 (30 cents) for the first 3 km and Rs 5/km thereafter. It is aimed at improving last-mile connectivity and solving inconveniences in short-distance travel.

Uber founder-CEO Travis Kalanick, who was in India for the launch, said: “Our goal is to provide our riders another choice for quick, reliable and affordable transportation, and to partner with the Telangana government on smart mobility solutions for the state.”

Ola, Uber’s main rival in the Indian market, also operates a bike-sharing service. According to an Economic Times report, India is one of the largest markets for two-wheelers, and about a dozen startups now offer bike-taxi services ranging from Baxi in Gurgaon to Bikxie, Pillionaire, Heybob and Headlyt.

Uber has been pushing hard in India where it faces stiff competition from market leader Ola.

In November, Uber made it easy for people to book cabs without downloading the app by launching its “Dial an Uber” feature across 29 Indian cities where it operates. Ola, which is present in 100 Indian cities, also operates a logged-out booking feature, Ola Offline, where users can ‘Book via SMS.’ Only about one-fourth of India’s mobile users have smartphones.

Prior to that, Uber attempted to make the most of India’s long wedding season by launching UberWEDDINGs, which allows users to book rides with pre-generated promo codes.

Meanwhile, the UberMOTO service in Hyderabad will have the standard features of a cab ride, including driver details, GPS tracking and sharing trip details with friends. As per the city's safety rules, pillion riders will have to wear helmets provided by the drivers.