The ride-hailing company announced that it is expanding its fleet with trains, buses, planes, and car rentals to its UK app this year. This move is part of a pilot initiative that could be expanded to more countries later if everything goes well. Uber itself won’t provide the services, but the company will allow users to use the app through platforms that sell tickets. Various partners will be announced in the coming months. The company also plans to let people buy Eurostar train tickets through the app.
“You have been able to book rides, bikes, boat services, and scooters on the Uber app for a number of years, so adding trains and coaches is a natural progression. […] Later this year, we plan to incorporate flights, and in the future hotels, by integrating leading partners into the Uber app to create a seamless door-to-door travel experience,” stated Jamie Heywood, Uber’s boss in the UK.
According to Uber, this new feature will help boost app usage in the UK, one of the company’s largest markets outside the US.
The move comes after on March 26, Uber secured a 30-month license to continue its operations in London, ending a battle with city regulators over whether the app was “fit and proper.”
Following the news, Uber’s stock price was trading more than 1% lower.
Sources: finance.yahoo.com, cnbc.com