British property developer to offer flats with free Uber rides included in rent
The cab-hailing app hopes to encourage tenants to permanently ditch their own cars, which it claims sit unused 95 per cent of the time
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Your support makes all the difference.A British housing developer is to begin offering flats with free Uber rides included in the rent.
The app-based taxi firm is following forays into food delivery and courier services by expanding into the property market with a UK-first partnership it claims could cut car ownership in cities.
Developer Moda Living plans to build apartment complexes across the UK with with few or no parking spaces, freeing up space for other facilities such as gyms, cinemas and swimming pools.
Tenants who forgo a parking space will receive up to £100 in credit each month to spend on Uber rides.
Uber hopes the collaboration will encourage city-dwellers to ditch their cars altogether.
Jo Bertram, general manager of Uber in the UK, said: "Cars are one of the most expensive assets most people own, but they’re used just five per cent of the time.
"By getting more people to ditch their own vehicles we can put some of the space wasted on parking to much better use. And with more people using car sharing options like UberPOOL we can reduce congestion and emissions too."
The first tenants offered the scheme will be residents of 466 apartments currently under construction at Moda's Angel Gardens in Manchester city centre. The development is being built with 149 parking spaces.
Other developments of more than 6,000 flats in total are planned for London, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Leeds, Liverpool, and Birmingham.
Johnny Caddick, managing director of Moda Living, said: "Our apartments are for rent rather than for sale so we need to consider how our customers will live in cities in the future.
"Embracing future technology is vital from day one and these plans for a partnership with Uber would not only give our customers an affordable ride at the touch of a button – it would also enable us to design better buildings with more space for social interaction.
"Everyone wants a more frictionless life and Uber’s model fully aligns with our approach of wanting to drive efficiency and maximise value for our customers."
Uber has expanded rapidly since it was founded in 2008.
The San Francisco firm's cab-hailing app covers more 500 cities worldwide, including 18 areas of the UK.
The company has also muscled in the food delivery market through its UberEATS brand, branched out into boat rides, and invested in driverless car technology.
But its rise has been dogged by controversy, including allegations of underpaid drivers, as well as regulatory and legal battles.
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