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Uber PH commences uberPOOL in Metro Manila

Jacob Oliva on Jun 19, 2016

The Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) estimates that our economy loses P2.4-billion daily because of congested traffic. Uber, one of the leading ridesharing apps in the world, brings their global service to our shores that will help solve this issue – the uberPOOL.

uberPOOL is a service that allows people going to the same area share the ride and split the cost. To put things in perspective, Uber’s new service is similar to the concept of carpooling.

With this, uberPOOL provides cheaper rides for passengers. The fare is at 25% less than the normal Uber ride even if they weren’t able to pair you up with someone. It will also mean less time between trips for Uber drivers since there will be an increase in demand due to the cheaper service.

uberPOOL has been around since 2014. Since then, over 100 million rides have already been taken – with 100,000 people taking pooled trips every week in 11 cities worldwide. Currently, they have expanded the service to 40 cities.

To use this service, you just have to choose the uberPOOL option in the Uber app. Select the number of seats that you need (up to 4) then enter the pickup point and destination. Select the “Share your ride” option and then tap “REQUEST SHARED CAR.” It should show you the exact fare, as opposed to when you request your own ride.

Once booked, you will see the details of the driver that took your request.

uberPOOL will then match you with other passengers that are headed to the same destination. Just like the usual carpool, you will either be the first passenger or the next one depending on the route and your location. This goes the same as to who will alight the ride first.