Uber says regulatory hurdles make shuttle business a challenging space

Uber says its shuttle business remains challenging due to regulatory hurdles restricting expansion beyond Delhi and Kolkata, even as it pushes ahead with intercity bus and multi-modal plans

Uber India said its shuttle business had been challenging as it continued to face regulatory hurdles that prevents expansion of its operations beyond Delhi and Kolkata.

 

The ride-hailing giant announced plans in 2024 to launch the service in Bengaluru but has so far not seen the light of day. While the operations in the two cities mentioned above are on, it had to stop the services in Mumbai and Hyderabad.

 

“It is part of the portfolio and we continuously re-evaluate based on regulatory direction, economics, and optimisation. It is a small scale product,” said Prabhjeet Singh, president of Uber India, on the side lines of the company’s announcement of launching Uber Intercity bus services.

 

 

When asked if the company has any concrete plans of expanding, Singh said multiple factors are responsible for it.

 

“I think multiple factors go into that, I think regulation is definitely one of them and it’s been a challenging space. So, we are watching, we are continuing to learn and recognise that different products will have different regulatory and economic profiles. So, we have to just evaluate it.”

 

Uber Shuttle added to the company’s existing range of mobility options in India, which includes cars, two-wheelers, and three-wheelers, as part of its multi-modal strategy. The Uber tech team integrated features such as real-time tracking and cashless payments into the Shuttle service, similar to other products on the Uber app.

 

Singh has said earlier that the San Francisco-based company is focusing on two- and three-wheeler mobility segment, which is its fastest growing, even as bike taxis remain under regulatory scrutiny across various Indian states.

 

The Intercity bus business will help the company expand further its offerings and grab a slice of near-$6.5 billion market. A significant of that bus service is now organised.

 

Uber, which has about 2,500 engineers in its two biggest engineering centres in Bengaluru and Hyderabad, also said it will continue to hire at a steady pace over the next year in areas such as earner ecosystem, rider experience products, and marketplace teams.

 

The two centres handle critical functions for Uber, such as rider engineering, Eats engineering, infra-tech, data, maps, Uber for Business, fintech, customer obsession, and growth and marketing. Its tech journey in India started in 2014 at a bungalow in Jubilee Hills, Hyderabad.