Uber. Everyone's private driver.

It was my first time using Uber and this is my first ever Uber driver. 

So, what exactly is Uber?

Well, Uber is NOT a taxi app. 

For users, Uber aims to make convenience and luxury of a private driver available to everyone, on-demand - at the push of a button on your smartphone. No more cumbersome process of renting a car and then hiring a driver anymore since you can do that now with a push of a button on a mobile app. Uber simply connect users with existing limo companies or car rental companies here in Kuala Lumpur and Uber doesn't own any car.

Just think of it as a temporary private driver.

What I like about Uber?

• On-demand. I don't need to book a day early to get a private driver service, I only need to press a button to get a ride from them. If I'm in KL, I don't need to wait for long until they reach my location.
• I can see the car on the map in real-time as it drives toward me. I can have an idea on where my driver is from the app itself!
• Information like the driver's name (and even his photo), the vehicle type and also it's license plate will be shown on the app when you request a pick-up.
• Payment are made through credit or debit card on the app. So there is no need to pay cash or swipe your card after the ride. The payment is automatically charged to your card with a receipt sent to your e-mail.
• It is safe because every single ride is tracked with a GPS so Uber know where every rider and driver is at any given time.
• At the end of every ride, you can rate your driver and comment on them.
• Operation hour is 24/7! Going to a club and afraid you'll need a very late ride? No worries! 
• A luxury car ride anyone? The range of cars includes Toyota Camry, Honda Accord, Nissan Teana, Mercedes S-Class or E-Class, BMW 7-Series and some other equivalent models.

Currently, Uber is only operating fully in KL and some part of Selangor area. In the future, they will be expanding their service to Penang and even Johor Bahru. 

Uber is not only operating in Malaysia of course. They started from San Francisco in June 2010 and now they have expanded to London, Paris, Washington DC, Munich, New York, Los Angeles, Tokyo, Sydney, Singapore, Bangalore, Manila, Seoul, and Taipei too. They will be expanding to more neighboring mega-cities in the Asian region within the next year. I guess we can call it the evolution of transportation?

For your information, big celebrities like Britney Spears, Miley Cyrus, and even Shaquille O'Neal have used Uber too!

Uber KL Pricing are based on time and distance traveled for each trip. Some examples of fare rates:

KLCC to Jalan Bukit Bintang, RM13 - RM15

KLCC to Bangsar Baru, RM29 - RM37

KLCC to KL Sentral, RM26 - RM33

Subang Jaya to Publika, RM64 - RM71

KL to KLIA, Flat Rate of RM300

KL to LCCT, Flat Rate of RM300

You can actually see the cars that are available on your map and the ETA is calculated from the car nearest to your pick-up location. Currently, Uber has only the Original Black Car type for use. They will be slowly adding in different type of vehicles (UberX, SUV or LUX) with different rates. For more information, please click here.

After you pin your location, you can press the fare quote button for a rough estimation on how much will your ride cost by keying in the destination. Then, proceed to request your pickup. After that, you'll see your driver and car information and how far his car is from your location.

You can even split fare with your friend so that the payment will be split and charged to you and your friends. There's also the other options where you can choose in the menu. Very convenient right? The app do look very sleek and easy to use too.

Just a snippet of the receipt that I got from my first Uber ride. Very detailed information they have there. If you're wondering why my fare was so expensive, it's because I was travelling from Cyberjaya to Bangsar Shopping Centre for the Uber Official Launch. And because of the launch, rides were FOC that day for every Uber ride to and from BSC! 

Interested in having your free first ride too?

For my readers, you can get RM60 off for your first Uber ride in 3 simple steps!

1. Download UBER app on your smartphone!
2. Enter the Promo Code below.
3. Enjoy your first ride!

 Promo Code 

he5r2

8 January 2014

And now, I'll blog about my day during Uber Official Launch day. It seems like most of the bloggers that were invited was bloggers from VibeHero, so it wasn't that scary with familiar faces around. It was my first time attending launch as a blogger! The venue of the day is Twenty One, BSC. We were actually searching for the place for quite awhile and it turns out we could actually reach the place using the bubble lift in the florist shop near the main entrance. I didn't know that until that day. 

Registration at the entrance of Twenty One.

Since it was my first time in a launch, I didn't know what to do or who to find because everyone one in there was strangers to me. Funny thing was, nobody was there to greet and lead us. So, we had to find a random place to sit and wait patiently for things to happen. Luckily, someone did greet us after that and inform us about things or so. In the end, we have a bloggers' table and we were all munching off foods that were served because we were all starving! The scene was quite funny because the other guests weren't eating as much as us. They were actually very busy chit-chatting here and there. We looked very out of the picture. 

A very serious Grace sitting across me.

After the speeches and presentation, most of the guest were off. I was like... "???? Okay???? Nobody wants to stay for lunch I guess?". They must be very busy being media reporter or so. As for us, it's impossible for us to leave also without talking much to anyone from Uber. So, we stayed and after awhile, we were greeted by some important Uber people and talked for awhile.   

Le bloggers. Had to at least take a group picture right? Even though it's just us. 

Getting into my ride after the event. Thanks to Elaine for the candid shot. I was so awkward because there were other cars waiting behind so I need to be quick with my poses (?).

 

Thank you very much to Uber for the invite.

As for my opinion on Uber, I think they have reasonable rates for their service. I rarely take taxis and when I do, I always meet ars*holes taxi drivers that doesn't want to use the meter to calculate the rates. So, obviously, kena tiok loh. I hate it when that happens. Not to mention, it is quite dangerous too to take a taxi in Malaysia especially for a girl like me. If only Uber was here before I have a car, I would definitely use them instead of calling a cab. Not to mention, can make us look good when getting in or out of the cars. HAHAHA! Just kidding. 

But I think it will be very useful for people who like to go to drinking late at night and if your friends are also super drunk, you guys can have a comfortable car to ride back and won't get "tiok" anymore. Plus, you have your own personal driver. No more worrying about parking anymore.

Make sure to get your first free Uber Ride by using my promo code above so you can experience how good it is!