Interesting Facts about Uber that People Don't Know
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Uber has become synonymous with cab service and the name itself needs no introduction. You can book a ride with just one tap. The app connects drivers present in more than 150 cities of the world. The total duration between booking a ride and pick-up ranges between 15-20 minutes. The company is a US based startup and launched itself in India in the year 2013. It was first launched in the city of Bangalore. Now, it is operating in many cities of our country.
This cab service providing company has millions of users and drivers. Uber has been in the limelight for various reasons, both good and bad. There are many things about Uber which many people still don’t know. This article will cover all those unknown facts. Keep scrolling the article to fulfill your curiosity about the same.
Chayanika Goswami
Uber’s Origin
A Nuclear Physicist’s Entry in the Company
Keeping the drivers in dark about the destination
No discount for Uber drivers
Ratio of Men: Women drivers is quite less
Three Employee Policy
Each drivers gets an iPhone
No cash, just digital money
Age of Uber Cars
Uber's Annoying alarm
Rating of users
Incentives for New users
Currency drain
Not so affordable rides
Company earns by playing middleman
Uber Kittens- A new venture
No service in Antarctica
Love of the company for Latin
World record of longest Uber ride
Name is shared by a design firm
FAQs
Uber’s Origin
The company was founded by Garrett Camp and Travis Kalanick in 2009. The idea of cab services hit the founder- Camp when he noticed the high cost of transportation and then came up with the idea of an affordable alternative. Travis Kalanick is a college dropout from University of California, Los Angeles. Uber was the third venture by Travis Kalanick. Garrett Camp is also the founder of StumbleUpon. The company was earlier named as UberCab and then in 2011 the company changed its name to Uber when it was introduced in San Francisco.
A Nuclear Physicist’s Entry in the Company
You might be feeling confused after reading this. But, it’s true that the company once hired a nuclear physicist, a neuroscientist and a machinery expert. This was done in order to understand the demand of the service. It helped them predict the areas where the demand was high and for providing an accurate method of recommending fare using the GPS.
Keeping the drivers in dark about the destination
Uber drivers don’t know the destination of the passenger while receiving the ride request. Uber Drivers become aware of the destination once they agree to pick them up. It is quite a weird thing and it is not known why Uber does this.
No discount for Uber drivers
Uber doesn’t offer any sort of discounts to it’s drivers. If you think that they might be getting some off or discount on rides in Uber then, you are wrong. However, they are provided with other incentives.
Ratio of Men: Women drivers is quite less
There is quite a low ratio of men:women drivers in the company. A study has suggested that there are only 14% of women drivers in the company. Uber is planning to increase the percentage and in the past also aimed to add 1 million female drivers by 2022.
Ashwini
Three Employee Policy
Uber hires just three employees per city who are responsible for handling all the operations within that city. For any concerns, these three people have to be contacted.
Each drivers gets an iPhone
Company gives the latest model iPhones to all its drivers so that the driver can track your location and reach on time. iPhone is just used for this purpose and all the other features aren’t available for the drivers.
No cash, just digital money
Uber has a No Cash policy which means that you can not pay the drivers using cash. Credit cards can be used to create an Uber account. No debit cards are accepted. But there is more cash using population in our country. There is a very small percentage of people who do cashless transactions.
Age of Uber Cars
Uber is quite strict in terms of age of the car. Drivers are not permitted to use a car that is more than 10 years old. This restriction is beneficial for passengers as no one would like to spend money on some old ride.
Uber's Annoying alarm
Uber drivers have a common complaint from the company and that is the annoying alarm. Alarm signals a ride request and its sound is quite hard to miss. Sole benefit of this alarm is that the sound can not be missed.
Rating of users
Till now, you must just be aware of the fact that drivers’ are rated by the users. But, it’s also the other way round. Drivers also rate you according to your behavior. Rating affects your pick-ups as if you are a bad rated user then, you’ll be a less preferred customer. Keep this point in your mind before you make an Uber driver wait for you.
Incentives for New users
Uber is seen as a company which never fails to attract customers. It indulges in various marketing strategies. One of them is offering free rides to users on special occasions. Various other cab services have not been able to match Uber on this front. It has been able to afford such innovative marketing because of large investors such as Google and Kleiner Perkins.
Currency drain
Uber is a US based company. The money charged from people goes to an Uber account near Amsterdam from where it is further transferred to US Wells Fargo account. After 7 days, 80% of the money paid by customers comes to a driver’s account. Many complaints regarding foreign exchange have come into the notice of RBI. If the company wants to operate in India then, it has to make various changes in its current way of operation. Such complaints have been registered in other countries as well.
Not so affordable rides
If we see the base fares, cost per km and cost per minute then, Uber Black luxury rides seem to be quite expensive when compared to the same services offered by rival companies. Recently, Uber has launched UberX which offers cars such as Toyota Etios and Maruti Swift Dzire at very nominal cost. Let’s see if this new idea is able to attract more customers.
Company earns by playing middleman
The cars which operate under the name of Uber aren’t owned by the company. Uber just acts as a middleman between people and cab drivers.
Rishabh Rathi
Uber Kittens- A new venture
Uber likes to experiment with various new concepts. It recently introduced UberKITTENS in the US. It was started in seven cities and provided the option of spending time with real kittens.
No service in Antarctica
Uber doesn’t offer it’s services in Antarctica. It’s services are operational in 173 countries of the world and have millions of users. Uber has conducted more than 5 billion trips since it’s launch.
Love of the company for Latin
Do you know what Los Ubers are? It is a group of Uber employees who have come together with the single motive of spreading the greatness of Latino culture all across the globe. This makes the company's love of Latin very clear to us.
World record of longest Uber ride
The longest Uber ride was 3361 Kilometers' long and this incident took place in 2017. This is another amazing fact about the company. The driver drove 2256 miles or 3361Km. He drove a YouTube celebrity from North Carolina to California.
Name is shared by a design firm
Uber Technologies shares its name with a design firm that was established in 1999. It has happened several times that when Uber Technologies was amid some controversies, the design firm was made a target for many lawsuits.
So, these were some of the unknown facts about the company. Hope you enjoyed reading the article.
FAQs
What is Uber famous for?
Uber Technologies is an American app-based transportation platform.
Why is it called Uber?
The name Uber is derived from the German word meaning "above all the rest".
When was Uber app founded?
Uber's mobile app was officially launched in San Francisco in 2011.
Is Uber kitten real?
Uber recently introduced UberKITTENS in the US. It provides the option of spending time with real kittens for 15 minutes.
What is the longest Uber ride ever?
The longest Uber ride was 3361 Kilometers' long and this incident took place in 2017.
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