Uber trials fixed-price hourly rentals for visits to the butcher, the baker and the candlestick-maker
(2020/05/01)
- Reference: 1588314732
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2020/05/01/uber_trials_fixed_price_hourly_rentals/
- Source link:
Uber has started a pilot of pre-paid hourly rentals.
The service is called “Hourly Driver” and is currently being offered in half a dozen large Australian cities.
Uber suggests the service to customers that want to “get all their essential travel done in one go.”
“From a trip from the office, to the chemist, to the supermarket to home, this new option is designed to give riders more peace of mind by having fewer interactions with people, and a handy car to help transport things as they buy them,” says the company’s [1]canned statement .
Uber is actively discouraging clients from using its service because stay-at-home orders mean staying at home! Hourly Driver is Uber’s attempt to offer plague-times-friendly offer for essential travel.
At AU$59 an hour (US$38, £30) it’s decently-priced: The Register used Google Maps to plot a one-hour car journey across Sydney and fed the start and end points into an Uber fare estimator for a predicted charge of $69-$89. An Uber driver will of course use less fuel while you shop than they would driving for a whole hour, which may account for the probably-lower fee. Yet they'll be paid the same as for any regular UberX trip.
Some perspective: Australian unemployment payments currently run at $1,110 a fortnight, but they've been doubled during the pandemic. Your correspondent struggles to get in and out of a supermarket and chemist in under an hour so Hourly Driver could eat up a big chunk of income for many folks. Delivery fees from a chemist and supermarket would likely be less than $59 and volunteer organisations are also helping with such matters.
The Register has asked Uber if it intends to deploy the service elsewhere, either as a plague-only option or during more normal times, but was told the ride-sharing firm's Australian outpost could not offer cogent comment on international matters. ®
Sponsored: [2]Forrester Build a Digital Experience Portfolio
[1] https://www.uber.com/en-AU/newsroom/hourlydriver/
[2] https://go.theregister.co.uk/tl/1936/-8554/forrester-build-a-digital-experience-portfolio?td=wptl1936
The service is called “Hourly Driver” and is currently being offered in half a dozen large Australian cities.
Uber suggests the service to customers that want to “get all their essential travel done in one go.”
“From a trip from the office, to the chemist, to the supermarket to home, this new option is designed to give riders more peace of mind by having fewer interactions with people, and a handy car to help transport things as they buy them,” says the company’s [1]canned statement .
Uber is actively discouraging clients from using its service because stay-at-home orders mean staying at home! Hourly Driver is Uber’s attempt to offer plague-times-friendly offer for essential travel.
At AU$59 an hour (US$38, £30) it’s decently-priced: The Register used Google Maps to plot a one-hour car journey across Sydney and fed the start and end points into an Uber fare estimator for a predicted charge of $69-$89. An Uber driver will of course use less fuel while you shop than they would driving for a whole hour, which may account for the probably-lower fee. Yet they'll be paid the same as for any regular UberX trip.
Some perspective: Australian unemployment payments currently run at $1,110 a fortnight, but they've been doubled during the pandemic. Your correspondent struggles to get in and out of a supermarket and chemist in under an hour so Hourly Driver could eat up a big chunk of income for many folks. Delivery fees from a chemist and supermarket would likely be less than $59 and volunteer organisations are also helping with such matters.
The Register has asked Uber if it intends to deploy the service elsewhere, either as a plague-only option or during more normal times, but was told the ride-sharing firm's Australian outpost could not offer cogent comment on international matters. ®
Sponsored: [2]Forrester Build a Digital Experience Portfolio
[1] https://www.uber.com/en-AU/newsroom/hourlydriver/
[2] https://go.theregister.co.uk/tl/1936/-8554/forrester-build-a-digital-experience-portfolio?td=wptl1936
Re: The urban transport solution for coronavirus and afterwards
c1ue
So what about driver protection?
And passenger protection if drivers get sick?
Because surely 1 hour of continuous exposure is safe.
The urban transport solution for coronavirus and afterwards
is not personal chauffeurs. It really isn't.