Uber begins bus pilot in Gurgaon in vision to become 'the platform' for transportation

Ride-hailing platform Uber recently began a pilot in Gurgaon to allow users to book bus tickets run by the Gurugram Metropolitan City Bus Limited (GMCBL), in an attempt to provide greater choices in terms of urban transport services.

Speaking to The Indian Express about the endeavour, Nitish Bhushan, director of central operations at Uber India said, "Obviously Uber is associated just with cabs, but our vision is to be the platform for any kind of transportation, and address all use-cases and all price points and also do this ideally in a way in which we can move more people in fewer vehicles."

Bhushan said the buses, of which two routes are available on the app in the pilot, are run by the GMCBL but will be available on the Uber app for commuters to book rides on. He said that the Rs 7/km rate was fixed by the GMCBL, and there is a "commercial agreement" between Uber and the corporation.

To a question about whether they expect people car and auto users to move to buses, Bhushan said they don't expect such a change to happen, but "if planned properly, there is no reason why people who can afford cabs will not move to a bus." Buses have their own advantage — most importantly the fact that it is more affordable but also they can be more efficient, he said.

Bhushan also said that they are in active conversations with service providers across the country, and hope that if the Gurgaon pilot is successful, other public city bus providers will see this to be relevant.