Uber India Introduces Booking without App & Request a Ride for Others Feature

Uber, the American Multinational online transportation network company, is one of the best when it comes to transport. It develops, markets and operates the Uber Mobile app that allows customers to submit a trip request through the app and get the suitable cabs nearby using Google Maps. So as mentioned, users need a smartphone with the Uber app installed so that they can request a taxi. But now apparently things are changing a bit.

Uber users in India can now order rides without the app itself. How? Well, the company introduced a service called ‘dial an Uber’. With this new service, customers can order a ride by navigating to a dial.uber.com on the mobile browser and register using their phone number. This will allow users to see the pricing and request the driver. But with this, the bill has to be paid in cash.

So the whole idea behind this is to make it easier for customers to see and book a cab even with poor internet connectivity. It is also reported that the service is currently available in cities like Nagpur, Kochi, Guwahati and Jodhpur. Also, there is also something else that the company announced and that is yet another service called the ‘request a ride for other’. So this is a new in-app feature which allows you to order taxis for friends or family member, who don’t have a smartphone.

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So now with this new service, after setting the location, it will ask whether the ride is for yourself or someone else. So once you enter the phone number, the respective person will receive the details of the taxi and take it forward from there. Also, it has cash only option, so it becomes easy to receive the money from the rider themselves. This is an India-specific service which is currently available in 28 Indian cities.

Apart from this Uber has also Introduced the “Request a Ride for Others”, which is a very useful feature in case you wish to book a cab for someone else in your family. Earlier users used to book a cab and the driver would be getting in touch with the account holder but now with this new feature you can share the contact details of the family member or the friend on whose behalf you are booking a cab.

How does it work?

1. Set your pin or manually enter the pickup location of the person you are requesting for
2. You will be prompted at the bottom of the screen to pick who the ride is for. Quickly choose from recently used contacts, pick from your contact list, or enter a new number.
3. On the confirmation screen either chose to have the rider pay in cash for the trip or change your payment method to pay for them electronically.
4. After requesting, the rider will get two SMSes with driver/car information and a link to track the ride themselves. The Driver is supplied with the rider phone number to contact them directly.
5. You can continue to track the requested trip from within your app.

These are two new features from Uber India. What do you think about the same? Let us know in the comments section below.