Ridesharing app Uber announced on Wednesday that it has reintroduced the premium Uber Black service in India starting with the city of Mumbai. The service has been brought back, after being discontinued almost a decade back, with features like quiet mode, temperature control, and help with luggage. Uber Black is now the most premium service from the mobility provider, while Uber Premier continues to be available for customers as well.
Uber currently offers services in the economy category under Uber Go and Uber GO Priority. It also has a category for larger cars under Uber XL. In some cities, it also has Uber Auto as an option. Calling it the ‘business class of back seats’, Prabhjeet Singh, president, Uber India and South Asia said, “As the largest on-demand mobility network with industry-leading matching, routing, and pricing tech and scaled fleet operations – we are bringing the magic of consistent high-quality service and premium comfort with Black.”
Uber Black was part of the services offered by the ridesharing app when it launched in India in 2013. At the time, the Black fleet consisted of C-suite cars such as Mercedes, BMW and Audi on demand. These were later replaced with luxury cars like Toyota Innova, Honda City and Toyota Corolla. Uber eventually brought the curtains down on the premium service in 2014, and focussed on its Uber Go and Uber Premier services. In addition to these two, Uber also introduced inter-city and rental services in the country.
The new Uber Black feature comes with facilities and features catering to the corporate traveller like quiet ride where the rider can request the music to be turned off, and minimal conversations with the driver. It also allows for cooling to be turned up or down before the ride begins, and an additional 5-minute wait time.
This time around, the fleet consists of sport-utility vehicles (SUVs) and multi-utility vehicles (MUVs) from automakers like Toyota, and MG. the pricing of Uber Black is at a 25over Uber Premier-30% premium from the other services, though currently Uber is running the service with a 10% discount. The Uber Black service is also available for rentals with similar features and pricing.
A few years back, Uber introduced its bike taxi service Uber Moto which ultimately ran into regulatory hurdles and has been put on hold in multiple states while the sector awaits the final verdict and regulation regarding bike taxi aggregators.
Another service introduced by Uber was Pool which allowed multiple people to share a ride. This fell victim to the Covid-19 pandemic and was discontinued after social distancing norms came into play. The service relaunched as Uber Group Rides last year.
