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Uber is testing an all-in-one subscription for rides, food delivery, bikes, and scooters

Uber is testing an all-in-one subscription for rides, food delivery, bikes, and scooters

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$24.99 a month for discounted rides and free food delivery

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Photo by James Bareham / The Verge

Uber is dabbling in an Amazon Prime-style monthly subscription service that rolls together all of its major services: ride-hailing, Uber Eats food delivery, and bike and scooter rentals. For now, the company is testing different iterations in Chicago and San Francisco, but it could start rolling out to other markets soon.

The all-in-one pass is available for $24.99 a month. For that price, customers get price protection or a fixed discount on every ride-hail trip, free delivery on Uber Eats, and free rides on Uber’s Jump bikes and scooters. Uber is also testing lower-priced passes in a handful of other cities that include rides and Eats benefits, such as discounted rides and free delivery on orders over a certain amount.

“we’re always looking for ways to make Uber the go-to option for your everyday needs.”

“From meals to wheels and everything in between, we’re always looking for ways to make Uber the go-to option for your everyday needs,” a spokesperson said in a statement. (The news was first reported by TechCrunch.)

Last year, Uber introduced its Ride Pass subscription service that let customers lock in flat rates on all the UberX, UberPool, and Express Pool trips they take over the course of that month. Uber bases the rates on historical data, claiming it saves riders up to 15 percent on their overall monthly travel. Ride Pass fares aren’t subject to typical external events like weather, traffic, or surge pricing, and there’s no limit on the number of rides customers can take each month. The company now offers Ride Pass in over two dozen markets, some of which include bike and scooter discounts.

Ride Pass can help Uber prevent frequent app-switching by its customers, but if it becomes popular, it can also prove to be a drag on the money-losing company. Uber drivers accepting rides from Ride Pass users will still get the same earnings based on time and distance, with Uber covering the difference. 

Tech companies, especially unprofitable ones like Uber, are growing increasingly interested in subscriptions as a way to lock in monthly recurring revenue streams. Uber aspires to be a one-stop-shop for transportation and delivery, and a monthly subscription helps underscore that mission. It can also lay the groundwork for an eventual driverless taxi service, which the company also aspires to launch.

“Frequent consumer behaviors are unclassified subscriptions anyway; smokers unwittingly subscribe to Philip Morris,” Reilly Brennan of Trucks venture capital firm wrote in his newsletter this week. “The advantages for mobility subscriptions become more obvious to the consumer as the number of modes goes up and trip length goes down.”