As part of efforts to increase the average transaction size on its platform, ride-hailing company Uber is increasing its efforts to develop new mobility segments in India such as intercity rides, hourly rentals and booked reservations, some of which have reached more than 40 percent annual growth over the past 12 months.

The company has expanded the long-distance transport service to about 100 cities and is adding new features to the offer that will increase the average ticket size on the platform. For the past two months, users have been able to book round trips on long-haul transport.

Uber India’s head of new mobility Shweta Mantri says, “What we have today is a lot of data and consumer insights that tell us what the expanding needs of consumers are. Using some of that, we’ve realized that there has been a gap in the market for a few years now, where long-distance travel is not available on the Uber app.”

Shweta says, “The Company is also considering launching intercity rides — currently operational only in India — in some of the other global markets where Uber operates.”

Uber says on intercity trips, with the roundtrip feature, the platform has witnessed more people using the option across use cases such as leisure, tourism and business, compared to people booking one-way rides.

“Typically, because intercity rides are long distance, average fare for riders is typically higher, and in a product where the average fare is higher, the margins are better. Also, because the fares are high, it becomes a lucrative opportunity to expand into,” Shilpa adds.

Shilpa says “We're constantly going back to the data to understand what customers need right now, intercity travel was one of the biggest areas where there were gaps and we've addressed them. Right now we're focused on expanding that use case to a larger consumer base and anything related to vehicles and form factors that people might need is the next set we're developing.”