Luxury car service, Uber, is awesome. It makes getting around a crazy city a civil experience that can be done in dependable yet stylish comfort. It’s meant to usurp the cab industry, but now Uber has launched UberTAXI for Australia: a service that connects you with cabs nearby. What?
For those not in the know, Uber is an app you download to your smartphone that lets you book a hire car driver to pick you up. With Uber’s sedan service, a car like a black Holden Caprice arrives within minutes to whisk you quietly, comfortably and luxuriously to your destination. Once you’re there, you needn’t hand over any cash. Your pre-registered credit card is automatically billed by the driver for the journey. The sedan service costs about 20 per cent more than a cab, while the ultra-swanky Uber Lux service — populated by cars like Audi Q7’s and even a crazy 1936 Stretch Cadillac — costs about 40 per cent extra. We reviewed Uber a while ago and were suitably impressed.
Now. a service that prides itself on luxury transport, will connect you with ordinary cabs nearby, as well as Uber black sedans and the ultra-swanky Uber Lux cars. Don’t worry, though: this is actually a good thing.
Australians already have a myriad of cab apps to choose from, including GoCatch and mTaxi, and now they have another. The twist with this one is the service tiers.
If you feel like travelling in style, you can always get the good, old-fashioned Uber black sedan. If you’re in the mood for something really special, try Uber Lux, but if you’re already an Uber user who just wants to get from A-to-B using the same app you use to book your other cars, then UberTAXI is for you. The three service tiers mean you don’t need to install multiple apps on your phone, which is great not only from an efficiency standpoint, but also from a ‘you’re-drunk-out-of-your-mind-and-can’t-remember-how-your-phone-works’ standpoint. Not bad.
UberTAXI goes live today in Sydney. Should come online in Melbourne shortly.