More than 100,000 people in Brussels have used Uber services. That’s double the number of people that had used it last year, the car and driver rental company told the Belga agency on Friday. This upward trend can be explained by the increased number of journeys taken to and from public transport links in areas with fewer tram and bus routes.
Statistics show a quarter of all Uber journeys company in Brussels started or finished near a metro station, whether they were through UberX, UberBlack or UberVan.
More than a fifth of these journeys started (22%) or ended (23%) in an area with fewer public transport links. Uber says this means there are areas in Brussels where less than 20% of the population lives within 500m of a metro station or “tram chrono” stop (the Stib’s fastest tram).
Between October 2012 and last month, the amount of Uber journeys in these areas increased 22% faster than in the rest of the city. During the same period, the increase in journeys which ended in an area with less access to public transport was 42% faster.
“This trend highlights the important role our services play in Brussels, especially when used in conjunction with other alternatives. A service used alongside another is a credible alternative to an individual vehicle. It could also help improve conditions in a city with one of the worst traffic congestion problems in Europe”, says Uber Belgium’s General Manager Joost Verdiesen.
(Source: Belga)
