Uber's most expensive service? An intercontinental UberBoat.
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Shontee Pant Staff writer
Want a ride to Istanbul? There's an Uber for that.
Uber鈥檚 latest transportation service may be the most expensive ride-sharing option the company offers. ,聽now available in Istanbul, will buzz passengers across the Bosphorus Strait聽in speedboats.
Uber has teamed with Turkish boat company Navette to offer rides for anywhere from聽, depending on ride length, with cost-splitting options possible among the聽6 to 8 passengers. While protesters complain that UberPop and UberX offer prices that undercut taxi fares, cost does not appear to be the primary draw for Istanbul's UberBoat.
Cheaper ferries and two free bridges currently connect the European and Asian sides of Istanbul, but 聽is almost continuously heavy. Construction has begun on a聽聽as well as a tunnel under the Bosphorus, but the projects have been stalled. 聽
UberBoat's main draw could be simple efficiency. Traffic jams in Istanbul rank聽, based on number of starts and stops per mile. Ferries cross the Bosphorus for only a few dollars each way, but their long lines and frequent stops have given them the nickname of "."
Like the Uber car service, which has operated in Istanbul since last summer, UberBoat is available via smartphone app and charges passengers' credit cards at the end of the ride.
Uber has dabbled with water taxis in other cities, though this is their first permanent offering, as well as the first inter-continental service for the company. Uber launched boat experiments in Boston, Sydney, Amsterdam, and Baltimore, but boats ran in Sydney for only a few hours, while聽Bostonians could for two weeks during June 2014. 聽
Uber may be trying to redeem its name by providing a service that offers an alternative without undercutting the competition. Paris聽and other聽cities聽have been working to regulate the ride-sharing service, while numerous cities, states, and .
Istanbul already has plenty of taxis, with over聽聽in the city, but UberBoat may have found a new niche market for commuters and tourists interested in crossing the intercontinental city without congestion and in the fresh air.
