A U.S. based ride-hailing Uber Technologies may soon start intra-city buses, quadricycles, scooters and auto-rickshaws service in India.
In an interview with Business Standard, Uber’s India and South Asia President Pradeep Parameswaran said that “Uber technologies are experimenting with intra-city buses, electric scooters and auto-rickshaws in India, with the plan to expand its presence from 36 cities to 50 (In India and South Asia) cities by the year-end.”
Parameswaran said, “The company will add the capacity only if there is a more demand to absorb it and which is good for the environment.”
He added, “We hadn’t gone to many cities before because we had a limited relevance here, but now we have a diversified portfolio which will help us to bring multi-modal transportation options.”
Talking with the BS, he said: “In Trichy, Uber only offers auto-rickshaws and no cars and also expects to add more auto-rickshaws riders than the car in Sri Lanka.”
The report added, “The company is also planning to experiment electric two and three wheeler’s in India.”
Business Standard also reported “Globally, the ride-sharing service providers have discovered that one out of four riders who hire a non-electric two-wheeler are women. This is a prompting it to study the possibility of bringing Jump a two-wheeler EV manufacturer in India.”
Parameswaran added “We are exploring high capacity 12 or 30-40 seater vehicles. Some of the routes will be fixed, but for others, we will use technology to have variable routes based on demand.”