Uber announced Sunday that it has come up with a new, cheap way for people in Beijing to catch a cab.
The new ride-sharing service, called "Remin You Bu," translates to "People's Uber," and was created to provide both citizen taxi driving and ride sharing, according to CNET. People's Uber has been added to the company's other services available in China, which include UberX and Uber Black.
While Uber has received a lot of criticism for increasing prices when experiencing high demand, it has recently been lowering the prices for its services, VentureBeat reported.
People's Uber was announced in a blog post by Uber's Ben Chiang, who said it "brings promising innovations fit for a city with Beijing's scale."
"Using the same Uber app, riders can now share a car by opening the app, connecting with the driver to confirm their destination, and jumping in. Riders only cover the driver's costs, so getting around town has never been so convenient and affordable. Drivers are fellow Beijingers vetted by Uber and rated by users after every trip. Route details are logged through Uber's system, and cars are insured and licensed according to Beijing standards."
While Uber made its services available in Beijing a month ago, the company appears to be very excited by People's Uber, which is currently in trial mode, VentureBeat reported.
"We look forward to the new ways that People's Uber connects the residents of Beijing!" Chiang wrote.
The cost of a ride with People's Uber is similar to that of a regular taxi, CNET reported. The service doesn't have a starting base fare like UberX, which has a 15 RMB ($2.43) base, and it is cheaper per minute to travel with People's Uber than it is with Uber X. The minimum fare for the new service is 12 RMB ($1.90), which is 1 RMB cheaper than the base fare of an official cab driver in Beijing.
People's Uber is the latest service introduced by Uber. The previous one, UberPool, is currently in private beta, but offers a similar service.
