UberPOOL trips in India helped save $4.5 million in fuel import costs

New Delhi: With fuel prices on the boil and India staring at an inflated crude oil import bill, shared mobility alone can help save millions in fuel import costs. By saving over 10,340 kilo litres of fuel since launch, Uber’s ridesharing product- UberPOOL has helped the country save $4.5 million in fuel import costs across 12 cities in India, according to the Green Index released by the company on World Environment Day.

Since UberPOOL’s launch in Bengaluru & subsequent expansion to a total of 12 cities in India, ride-sharing has helped the nation save a whopping 10,340 kilo litres of fuel translating into a savings of $4.5 million in fuel import costs (at a price of $70/barrel).

In addition, uberPOOL has helped avoid over 200 trillion kms of independent travel (219,797,766 kms) which rivals 286 trips to the moon and back. Further, uberPOOL rides have helped prevent over 36,537 tonnes (36,537,000 kg) of CO2 emissions in India, which amounts to planting 11.5 million trees covering 19315 acres of forest area.

According to the Green Index released by Uber, ridesharing is continuing to see a significant upswing year on year across all cities, with Bangalore registering the highest number of POOL trips taken so far, followed by Delhi and Kolkata.

The impact of POOL as a proportion of all Uber trips in the city is also profound. Over 39% of all trips taken in Kolkata are now shared rides, closely followed by Bengaluru (37%). There is a growing trend to ditch the personal vehicle, access public transportation and use uberPOOL for first and last mile connectivity.

A rider in Hyderabad has taken over 1921 uberPOOL trips in the last year, followed closely by a counterpart in Delhi (over 1811 uberPOOL trips). Global studies suggest 1 shared vehicle has the potential to take 9-13 cars off the road.

An Uber driver partner in Bangalore has contributed significantly to this cause by clocking over 4723 uberPOOL rides in the last year, highest among driver partners nationwide.

Commenting on the outcome of the Green Index, Prabhjeet Singh, Regional General Manager, Uber India & South Asia said, “The growing adoption of ridesharing across the country is an encouraging sign for us in driving a positive socio-economic change and create viable alternatives to private car ownership. Ridesharing technologies like Uber can play a key role in complementing the government’s efforts towards reducing congestion and pollution. As more people in more cities use uberPOOL, it will help contribute to the future that Uber has already begun to create: more people in fewer cars, fewer people owning cars and fewer cars on the road.”

India is expected to be a leader in shared mobility by 2030 as rising share of electric and autonomous vehicles will improve shared mile economics according to a recent Morgan Stanley report. Similarly, a report released by the Boston Consulting Group in April, 2018 on “Unlocking Cities: The impact of ridesharing across India”, points to how car owners are increasingly questioning the need to own a car in view of increasing congestion.

In the pursuit to reduce congestion and reclaim public spaces that are lost to vehicle parking, Uber introduced uberPOOL in India in 2015. Today, uberPOOL is available across 12 cities, namely, Bengaluru, Delhi, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Mumbai, Chennai, Pune, Guwahati, Kochi, Ahmedabad, Chandigarh and Jaipur.

Highlights of Green Index: