Online cab hailing company Uber has introduced a new ride option called Premier. The option will be introduced as a pilot in Mumbai and Pune first where the company will offer select riders Premier as an in-app product option that serves as an upgrade to their current uberX experience. Uber says that it is targeting users who are looking to get the comfort of their private cars and reduce private car ownership. Premier will have: High-comfort, economy-range sedans. But it did not mention which cars that riders will get. Drivers should have completed 1000+ lifetime trips and acknowledged by riders via the Driver Compliments feature and ratings. 'Enhanced customer support' after a ride. No details on what enhanced support were given in the press release. Uber says that Premier rides will be available at UberX fares in Mumbai and Pune. The company says that Premier will have drivers who have 40% shorter pickup time than the predicted arrival time. At the moment, in India, Uber has Moto (a bike taxi option), Pool (car sharing option), Go (economy class), X (sedan class), Black (SUV and high-end cars), and Hire (for day -long trips). Meanwhile, rival Ola launched its Select program over a year ago in last August. When it started, the company based the program based on frequent usage of Ola and offered free WiFi, no-cost upgrades, discounts. The Select program now offers features like no peak pricing at any time, priority booking, Prime cabs at Mini fares, free WiFi, priority support, airport lounge access, top drivers and cars,…
