Uber Is Launching an Amazon Prime-style Subscription System

The ride-hailing company Uber seems to be looking for ways to stabilize its user-base. Following the steps of big brothers in the business world, Uber will be launching a subscription system for rides. The feature, named Ride Pass, will be available in five US cities from now, with variable pricing. In four of the cities, Austin, Orlando, Denver and Miami, the package has been priced at $14.99 per month, but in Los Angeles, users do have to pay $24.99 per month. The subscription does not offer free rides, but aims to provide discount rates for the rides users can take a month.

In many ways, Uber Ride Pass resembles the Amazon Prime subscription, it can be seen. For instance, when a user subscribes to the plan, the rates of the UberX and UberPool would be locked for the month. It means that the users can avail a fixed rate, regardless the weather or traffic that is outside. On the related note, the prices would not be varying based on the surge. Uber says that this set up would allow users to save up to 15% of travel expenses by the end of the month.

For Uber, however, there is another task on the list. The company will have to pay the drivers full amount, since the drivers are not receiving any amount from the subscription plan. However, when there is a notable number of subscriptions from the user-side, Uber will be having better revenues. The point here is that the overall savings can be boosted by this feature. To make that evident, Uber app will be showing the amount of money a user has saved, thanks to the subscription system. It would also show the number of days left in the subscription. Starting from today, users can sign up for the subscription service.