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Uber expands its low-cost Ride Pass program to 17 more cities

Uber is expanding its money-saving Ride Pass program to 17 additional locations across the United States.

The move comes five months after the ridesharing giant launched the discount subscription service in Los Angeles, Austin, Orlando, Miami, and Denver.

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Ride Pass is available for UberX and UberPool trips and costs riders $15 a month, though this rises to $25 in some locations (see below for a breakdown of cities and prices). The subscription service offers savings of up to 15 percent for each trip and does away with surge pricing, making it a tempting option for regular Uber riders.

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You can sign up for Ride Pass through Uber’s app, and then track the savings you’re making with each trip so you can be sure you’re getting value for money.

Uber last experimented with subscriptions plans three years ago with Uber Plus, but it never took off. This week’s expansion of Ride Pass, announced in a post on Uber’s website, indicates that both the company and riders are happy with the design of the new offering.

New locations for Ride Pass

The new locations where Uber’s Ride Pass is now available include New York City, Dallas, San Diego, Seattle, San Antonio, Las Vegas, Phoenix, Orange County (California), Baltimore-Maryland, New Orleans, Nashville, Portland, Raleigh-Durham, St. Louis, Jacksonville, and Memphis.

Ride Pass is available for UberX and UberPool trips and costs riders $15 a month, though this rises to $25 a month in Los Angeles, New York City (Bronx and Staten Island), Dallas, San Diego, Seattle, Phoenix, San Antonio, and Nashville as the deal in those places includes up to 30 minutes a day of free access to Uber’s ebikes and scooters.

Lyft’s All-Access Plan

Archrival Lyft also offers a subscription-based service for regular riders. The company made its “All-Access Plan” available across the U.S. in October 2018, shortly before Uber launched its Ride Pass alternative.

Lyft’s All-Access Plan costs $299 a month for 30 rides that cost up to $15 each. If a single ride costs more than $15, you just pay the difference, and if you take more than 30 rides, Lyft discounts each ride fee by 5 percent. Like Uber, Lyft also experimented with various versions of the service before apparently settling with this latest effort.

Trevor Mogg
Contributing Editor
Not so many moons ago, Trevor moved from one tea-loving island nation that drives on the left (Britain) to another (Japan)…
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