BERLIN, July 17 (Xinhua) -- Uber, the world's leading mobility online platform, is re-launching its services which can be booked via the app UberX in the German city of Hamburg, the U.S. company announced on Wednesday.
Addressing legal concerns in Germany over brokering rides with private drivers, customers in Hamburg could now book a trip with a professional driver. At the end of the journey, payment could be made cashless by credit card or Paypal.
According to Uber, "the fare is displayed before booking and does not change even if the journey takes longer or there is a traffic jam." Also, customers could see the profile of the driver including a picture, number plate and service evaluation before departure.
Hamburg is the sixth city in Germany where Uber is offering its services, alongside Berlin, Munich, Dusseldorf, Frankfurt am Main and Cologne. Uber stated that last year alone, more than 240,000 people in Hamburg had tried to book car trips via the Uber app.
Uber would also continue its co-operation with German taxi companies in Hamburg where customers could book a regular taxi trip via UberTaxi, the company stated.
With the "Green option", Hamburg would be joining the list of European cities such as Munich, Lisbon and Kiev "where people can order all-electric cars at the touch of a button".
In Germany, Uber is working exclusively with licensed rental car and taxi companies, whose drivers all hold a passenger transport permit and are fully insured for commercial passenger transport. According to Uber, "the drivers meet all the requirements for commercial passenger transport, which includes a regular specialist health check and the control of the police clearance certificate".
Hamburg is one of the first German cities which is testing autonomous and networked vehicles, intelligent parking sensors, traffic light phase assistants, and many other digital trends in the transport sector.
According to the traffic index 2018 released in June this year, no other city in Germany is suffering from as many traffic congestions as Hamburg. The city has set itself the goal of becoming one of the most innovative mobility cities in Germany, reducing individual traffic and offering safe and diverse mobility opportunities.
"In order to solve traffic problems, individual traffic must be intelligently reduced," said Christoph Weigler, general manager at Uber Deutschland. This could only work if alternative mobility offers "would convince people that their own car is not always the most effective and environmentally-friendly means of transport".
