Uber desperate to get its Moto service ready to go again
With the ongoing coronavirus pandemic continuing to propel contactless transactions, Uber's recent partnership with bKash on enabling automatic trip-end payments is paving the way for a bigger vision for the San Francisco-based tech giant.
Through the partnership, Uber aligned itself one step nearer to the "Digital Bangladesh" narrative, Nandini Maheshwari, a director for business development at Uber APAC, told The Daily Star within an interview last week.
Uber and bKash the other day announced a partnership allowing riders to cover their trips using bKash and enabling customers to make transactions with no manual intervention after the bKash wallet is added as a payment method on the Uber app.
"We are incredibly impressed and humbled with what bKash has built. It's truly fabulous."
But this is actually the first leg of the innovation that Uber has in the works for the Bangladesh market.
"We are focused on evolving our services into what the consumers in Bangladesh want."
Asked if Uber has plans to bring about board the other mobile financial service (MFS) providers of the united states like Nagad and Rocket, she answered in the negative.
"Currently, our focus is to grow the adoption of the bKash platform and make it an extremely, very successful partnership. We've many other ideas that people want to evolve with bKash."
Asked if Uber includes a plan on setting up a payment gateway with a Bangladeshi bank as issues remain over card payments for Bangladeshi Uber riders when travelling abroad, she responded in the positive.
"I have spent some time broadly on payments in Bangladesh," said Maheshwari, who was an investment banking associate for technology, media and telecom at JP Morgan before taking on the role of business development lead at Uber India in November 2015.
Bangladesh has several restrictions and seeks domestic processing of card payments instead of international processing.
"Most the 69 countries where Uber includes a existence have standard processing that people apply to most markets," she said, adding that Uber was actively working towards localised processing of card payments.
Asked if Uber includes a intend to introduce Uber gift idea cards in a way that customers can load their accounts on credit so that it works extremely well to cover rides when travelling abroad as a workaround to the card problem for Bangladeshi riders, she had not been so optimistic.
"Gift cards certainly are a great product. We have those gift cards in a number of markets all over the world, including India, and it went down quite well. We've Bangladesh under consideration."
Normally, gift cards are almost impossible to use beyond the home market. And that is an issue where in fact the central bank guidelines enter into play.
"I haven't checked the Bangladesh guidelines, however in most markets, there are problems like anti-money laundering laws. So regardless if we launch it, it will be only for used in Bangladesh, not for a Bangladeshi going to another country."
Maheshwari thinks as cities start moving again and with an increased give attention to safety and health, the value of safe, cashless transactions are really critical.
"Which partnership with bKash just comes at this opportune time to promote more digital transactions that reduce cash dependency."
As the pandemic continues to dominate all over the world, the ridesharing company is currently disproportionately concentrating on safety products.
"We've been working on how we are able to use technology to create ridesharing on mobility as safe as possible. And we've launched some products to create it possible."
Before a driver can go online, they'll be asked to confirm if they have been through its new "GO SURFING Checklist" in which they have adopted certain safety measures and if they are wearing masks.
Which will be verified through a obtain taking a selfie and passengers will be notified about the verification.
A similar checklist may also be introduced for riders and, before every trip, riders must confirm whether they have taken precautions like wearing a nose and mouth mask and also have washed or sanitised their hands.
For Bangladesh, Uber has spearheaded the formation of a transport safety alliance to improve safety awareness between consumers and equip drivers with health and safety supplies to make sure safer rides.
"There is mandatory training for drivers prior to going live. There is a checklist before switching on the app. And there are numerous touchpoints for the journey to make sure that they are following what we've been telling them."
"And then finally, there's always this feedback mechanism from the rider and driver. But if any of them feel unsafe with each other, then they receive the choice of free cancellation."
Asked the way the response has been since Uber resumed services in Bangladesh after the general shutdown, she mentioned a positive trend in the business.
But if its Moto service is launched, it would be even better.
Although the regulatory body of the united states made a decision to allow ridesharing services to resume their businesses on 1 July, the favorite motorcycle services have not been permitted to resume because social distancing was impossible in this mode of transportation.
Bangladesh was the speediest growing market on the globe for the service before pandemic hit.
"Moto has been launched all over the world including India. We've the confidence to supply a safe ride to the consumers."
While its ride services were on pause, the business, true to its tag line, kept moving: it rolled out two new services in the united states during the pandemic.
In June, it launched Uber Connect to permit residents in Dhaka to receive and send parcels and also order items from shops within city limits.
In addition, it introduced on-demand rental service, the first-of-its-kind launched by any ridesharing company in Bangladesh, promising to supply a personalised experience to passengers.
It allows them to book an automobile and its driver for many hours at a time and make multiple stops on a journey.
"What we are walking towards is to make certain our products could be available as quickly as possible."
Asked about Uber's plans for the Bangladesh market, she said: "At this time, one focus is to access recovery as fast as possible."
Uber is actively dealing with the government to get Moto business back as it's an enormous part of its portfolio.
"After the pandemic, we will evaluate whether to launch in more cities."
