Uber restarting shared rides in U.S. cities like New York and San Francisco

Uber announced Tuesday it’s bringing back shared rides in a handful of U.S. cities after pulling the service for more than two years.

The feature, which allows riders to share a car with strangers going in a similar direction for a discount, is available in New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago, San Francisco, Phoenix, San Diego, Portland, Oregon, Indianapolis and Pittsburgh. It plans to expand to other locations this summer, the company said.

Uber and Lyft suspended shared rides in March 2020 as the Covid-19 pandemic began to ravage communities across the globe. Lyft brought back shared rides to Philadelphia and Miami last year. The company said last month it would expand to San Francisco, San Jose, California, Denver, Las Vegas and Atlanta.

Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi said in the fall that Uber would bring back shared rides as prices across the industry continued to surge. The company then rebranded the service to “UberX Share” instead of “Uber Pool,” and started piloting rides in Miami.

Uber said Tuesday that riders who choose to share will get an upfront discount and up to 20% off the total fare if they’re matched with a co-rider along the way. The company is also promising riders will arrive no more than eight minutes later than their a private Uber would. Uber has limited rides to a total of two passengers.

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