Just six months after reaching one billion rides, Uber is reporting that its service has now reached crossed the two billion mark. The two billion mark is quite impressive, considering that it took the company five years to reach its initial billion rides. The big upswing in users is being attributed to the heavy spending the company has made, investing into recruiting new drivers and passengers. The company received more than $13 billion in funding to make this possible.
Posting to Facebook, Travis Kalanick, CEO of Uber wrote:
“Where were you at 4:16 AM GMT on Saturday, June 18? In that single second a month ago, 147 Uber rides started – tying for our two billionth trip.”
The 147 trips that Kalanick mentions occurred in 16 countries across five continents with the longest ride lasting more than an hour as the taxi independent travel service provider traveled across Indonesia"s capital, Jakarta. The shortest journey lasted just three minutes in Changsha, China.
Uber now operates in 450 cities globally, which is up from 311, one year ago. However, the company has had numerous brush-in with local legislators and interest groups over time. Recently, a number of large and high-profile cities around the world announced they were banding together to make sure Uber plays by their rules.
Still, given the rapid rise in the amount of Uber trips, we should see more milestones achieved in the not too distant future.
Source: Reuters