Uber launched a motorbike taxi on-demand service in the congested streets of Bangkok, yesterday. The service which is called UberMoto is a pilot service and is one way the taxi-hailing app company is looking to compete with its rivals who already offer motorbike options in Thailand’s capital city.
UberMoto isn’t Uber’s first attempt at motorbikes. The company earlier launched a moto-taxi option in Paris In 2012. But that service was a short-lived experiment that lasted only for a couple of weeks. Ever since, Uber hasn’t launched any such service until now.
Speaking about the expansion into Motorbike taxi services, Douglas Ma, Uber’s head of Asia expansion, said “Motocycles are part of the commuting culture in Thailand”. He also suggested that this new service would help create ‘tens of thousands of flexible work opportunities for Thais”.
The company first launched in Thailand in 2014 and so far has encountered some difficulties, the most significant being allegations by the country’s transportation director saying that the Uber’s cards were not registered and that some its driver didn’t have proper licenses.
At the moment, motorbike rides can be requested on the app (just like for any Uber taxi) in only three neighbourhoods in central Bangkok. The drivers also arrive with a helmet for the passenger too.
So far though, Bangkok residents have reported different degrees of success at finding available taxis since the service launched.
Do you think Uber should launch a similar service in Lagos Nigeria? I mean, the traffic here in lasgidi can be terrible.
Looking forward to you comments.
