Aiming to provide customers with more consistent pricing, Uber announced Tuesday (October 30) a pilot of a new membership program dubbed Ride Pass.
In a blog post, the ride-hailing startup said Ride Pass is a new way for riders to lock in a consistent, low price on any ride they take anywhere in the city at any time of the day for a fee of $14.99 a month. “Daily commute or night on the town, traffic or open roads: Ride Pass is designed to take the guesswork out of riding so you can confidently plan your day with Uber without any unwelcome surprises,” wrote Dan Bilen, product manager at Uber, in the blog post. With the membership program, which is available in five cities in the U.S. to start, users can sign up through the app and track their savings on every ride with real-time updates. The service comes with auto-renew and the ability to cancel at any time. Ride Pass will also include e-bikes and scooters in Los Angeles soon for no additional costs.
According to a report in The Verge citing Bilen, Ride Pass is available in Los Angeles, Austin, Orlando, Denver, and Miami. In Los Angeles, the service costs $24.99, noted the report. Riders get to lock in flat rates on all of the UberX and UberPool trips they take during the month with rates discounted. The Verge reported riders can save as much as 15 percent on their monthly travel via Uber with the service. What’s more, members of Ride Pass won’t have to deal with added costs due to weather, traffic or increased pricing. There isn’t a limit on how many rides a customer can take each month either. “We’re really keen to make sure this is priced to the point where people can buy the pass [and] not have to think too much about it,” Bilen told The Verge. “The vision for Ride Pass is it makes Uber a budgeted line-item for riders.”