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Uber brings its larger-car option to London and Manchester
We haven't heard much out of Uber since it reduced the price of trips across London in its standard vehicles a few months ago. Today, the disruptive taxi service is back on our radar with the announcement of a new fleet of vehicles intended to serve bigger parties, and those who must bring at least five suitcases on their week-long holidays. Through the new uberXL tier (which debuted in San Francisco earlier this year), Londoners can hail a six-seater motor, while Mancunians can expect an eight-seater to turn up, though Uber warns "availability may initially be limited." As you'd expect, they're a little more expensive than standard uberX vehicles at £2.15 per mile, with minimum fares of £7 in London and £5 in Manchester. If you've got seven mates to split the fare with, though, it'll still work out much cheaper than getting two separate cars. Result.
You can now take Lyft and UberX cars to San Francisco's main airport
It was only a matter of time before San Francisco International Airport allowed direct visits from app-based ridesharing services besides Sidecar, and those floodgates have officially opened. Both Lyft and Uber (specifically, UberX and UberXL) now have the all-clear to stop at SFO's terminals. If you need a ride to your hotel, you no longer have to pay for an expensive taxi or else brave the mass transit system. It's difficult to know how this increased competition will work in practice, but a successful rollout could get other airports following suit. [Image credit: Angelo DeSantis, Flickr]
Another Uber SUV cab service comes to San Francisco
We've all suffered that problem when we've got too many friends to share a single cab, but not really enough to justify splitting into two groups. Uber understands our pain, and has launched UberXL, specifically for medium-sized groups of partygoers to get around in an SUV instead of a sedan. Now, if we're honest, we have no idea how this is going to shake out compared to UberSUV, which also offers SUV-sized transport, but costs twice as much to use. We have asked the company, and will let you know what we learn. Still, UberXL, which is already available in Singapore and Chicago is now coming to San Francisco, just in time for the annual Bay to Breakers race-cum-city-wide-rave. Compared to UberX, you'll pay a $5 base fare and a minimum $8 fee, but that's a small price to pay not to break up the party. Update: So we've heard back from Uber, who explained that UberSUV uses TCP-licensed drivers for luxurious transit, whereas UberXL is just for larger groups of regular folk.
