Uber plans to add train, bus and flight bookings to its UK app

Uber is planning to add a travel booking service for flights, trains and more in the UK this year to expand its ride-hailing business, Financial Times reported. The new service is designed to provide a “seamless door-to-door experience” so you can book flights, trains, and Uber on the same app. According to CNBC.

The UK is one of the company’s biggest markets outside of the US, so the expansion is a big step forward. “You’ve been able to book rides, bikes, boat and scooter services on the Uber app for a number of years, so adding trains and coaches is a natural progression,” Jamie Heywood said. , said Uber UK general manager. “Later this year, we plan to combine flights and hotels in the future, by integrating leading partners into the Uber app to create a seamless door-to-door travel experience.”

This “super app” strategy is not new, as CEO Dara Khosrowshahi said he wants Uber to be “Amazon transportation“when he first joined the company. Before the pandemic, about 15% of Uber rides were more profitable trips to or from airports.” With COVID behind us, with this massive push into new modes of transportation, we wanted to signal Heywood that this is a very important growth lever for us in the coming years.

It remains unclear to what extent Uber will compete directly with other travel booking services, but Khosrowshahi served as CEO of Expedia before coming to Uber. The company can go ahead of its competitors in that it can also provide airport-to-hotel transfers, essentially owning the entire process.

Uber recently announced that it will allow New York City users to book Yellow Cab taxis directly through its app, with passengers paying the same way they would when they took Uber X. The company also has plans provide a similar service in San Francisco. However, it remains unclear when or if Uber will offer its expanded travel booking service in the US.