Uber is now offering business riders in London the ability to schedule their rides in advance as companies currently pre-book with minicabs and taxis in London. There are however a few issues with this for Uber.
The first is that the passenger and driver are not paired so it will depend on whether or not there is a driver available. In a minicab, the driver will wait for the passenger for an additional fee. Uber does not guarantee that the driver will wait for the customer. They say they offset this by having drivers all over the city.
But the potential problem with this as anyone knows is traffic in London can be unpredictable and can often come to a standstill. If the uber driver is unaware of an unexpected traffic issue it can result in a cancellation or a delay for the customer. Uber has said they can counter this by the sheer number of available drivers within a location, but the driver can also opt to not accept the ride. Uber says it would be up to the customer to convince the driver to wait.
Another possible issue is that of surge pricing. If a surge is going on at the time of your booking, you as the customer will be charged the surge pricing but you do have the ability to opt out or cancel your ride if you choose to. There seem to be an number of potential problems with this new system for Uber, but we will only know after they roll out the system. It will be a test to find if uber can handle London’s business rides.