Uber Intercity Trips Soar On The Back Of Travel Boom, Improved Infra

-          Company releases emerging travel trends report

Uber today released its annual travel index ‘Riding with Intercity’, encapsulating key trends linked to outstation travel in India. Indians made the most of their weekends by taking to travel - as most Intercity trips were booked on Saturdays, followed by Sundays and Fridays, signaling a clear trend highlighting weekend outstation travel.

2023 saw the highest ever Intercity trips booked on the Uber platform, buoyed by a sharp rise in leisure and religious travel in the country, and backed by the marked improvement in the road infrastructure. The rapid pace of development of the national and state highway network in India over the past few years has significantly reduced travel times, while also making road journeys more comfortable. These factors have resulted in a trend where more people have been opting to cover longer distances by road.

Intercity trips can now be booked for round trips lasting up to 5 days, where riders can retain their Uber and the driver, adding stops as they go. To aid journey planning, all Uber rides can now be booked up to 90 days in advance helping riders schedule their travel better. This feature also helps drivers as they can now forecast their future earnings in advance and plan their schedules accordingly. The number of Intercity rides being reserved in advance went up 5x in 2023, coming in as a vote of confidence for the journey planning feature.

The index highlights key trends, including the most popular destinations as chosen by riders in 2023, which is a list of popular tourist destinations, off-beat routes, and religious pilgrimages. While riders from Mumbai loved visiting Pune and the wine country of Nashik to get away from the city, those in Delhi frequented the historical architecture hotspots of Agra and Jaipur the most. Those from Bangalore chose Mysore and Nandi Hills as their favourite getaway spots.

The round trip feature was loved way more by riders for their leisure travel and visits to places of worship as they could keep the Uber with them, while one-way trips were most booked by those going to visit their families, where the date of return could be flexible.

Here’s some of the key highlights from the ‘Riding with Intercity’ index:

Top 3 Intercity Routes in India

Mumbai - Pune

Delhi - Agra

Bangalore - Kolar

Top 5 Intercity Weekend Travel Months

(Top 5 months in 2023 with the highest number of Intercity trips booked during weekends, in no set order)

-          July

-          September

-          October

-          November

-          December

Top 3 Days of the Week

(Top 3 days of the week with the highest number of Uber Intercity rides in 2023, in decreasing order)

Saturday

Sunday

Friday

Top Uses For Intercity

(Top uses for Intercity going by number of trips booked in 2023, in decreasing order)

Family Visits

Business Travel + Meetings

Tourism (Leisure + Religious)

Top Uses For Intercity Round Trips

(Top uses for Intercity Round Trips going by number of trips booked in 2023, in decreasing order)

Tourism (Religious + Leisure)

Business Travel + Meetings

Family Visits