Uber Intercity grows to 3,000 routes; unveils premium Motorhomes service

Uber adds 1,000 new routes in intercity push; pilot of luxury Motorhomes to offer TV, lavatory, and mini-fridge for premium getaways starting August 7

Ride-hailing firm Uber on Thursday said it has expanded its intercity services by almost 50 per cent and now caters to over 3,000 routes, including Gaya to Patna, Bagdogra to Gangtok, and Ayodhya to Prayagraj and Lucknow.

 

Company executives believe that this is likely to grow at a similar rate during the next calendar year as well.

 

“We are growing roughly in the range of 40 to 50 per cent year-on-year. I think that’s the kind of growth we continue to anticipate for the years to come, and hopefully even break that record for us,” Shweta Mantri,

 

head of rider verticals at Uber India and South Asia, said on the sidelines of a company event in New Delhi.

 

 

At the end of 2024, Uber was present in more than 2,000 routes, and in 2023, the service was available in around 1,300 routes.

 

In terms of the most popular routes for intercity, Mumbai-Pune, Delhi-Agra, Bangalore-Mysore, Lucknow-Kanpur, and Ahmedabad-Vadodara were the top five over the last 12 months, especially around long weekends and holidays. 

 

In addition, weekends, led by Fridays, were the most popular days for setting out on intercity travels, with most riders opting to head out either during the early hours of the morning or the relatively lean traffic hours of 2 PM to 3 PM.

 

In order to increase the adoption of its intercity service, the company also launched a premium service, called Motorhomes, on a one-month pilot basis in Delhi’s national capital region. The service, which will be live from August 7, can be booked either directly using the Uber Intercity option or the Uber Reserve option. The bookings open on August 4.

 

The new travel vehicle can accommodate four to five riders. The vehicles feature entertainment and convenience amenities, including a television, lavatory, microwave, and mini-refrigerator, providing a full-service private lounge-on-wheels for weekend getaways or special travel occasions, the company said in a statement.

 

The launch of the service coincides with the commencement of festivals and various extended weekends. The company said that rider interest surges, especially during festive periods such as Diwali, Holi, Eid, and the summer wedding season.

 

“Our objective is to bring this elevated experience to life for our consumers, see how the pilot goes, what the demand is, and other factors, but right now we have not made decisions about the future in terms of scale,” Mantri said, adding that the given it’s a premium product, it will be priced higher that the other services on the platform.