It’s Time To Set Sail With UberBOAT

UberBOAT? Say what? Apparently, this is no joke.

If you’re in Istanbul, you can now hail an UberBoat to take you across the Bosphorous, the strait that divides the European and Asian halves of the city. Forget using ridesharing services to get you across cities, Uber wants to take you across continents.

According to a blog post, the company says you’ll see UberBoat service offered whenever you’re near the waterside. The speedboats — which hold six to eight passengers each — are owned and operated by a Turkish company, Navette. Depending on your destination, rides range anywhere from roughly $20 to $150. Of course, Uber does face some competition for transportation across the Bosphorous: in addition to the public ferry (which costs just about 81 cents according to Bloomberg Businessweek), there’s an underground metro and two highway bridges that shuttle millions across the strait daily.

“This is a good addition to help solve Istanbul’s traffic problems by offering transport on the Bosporus, which is obviously underutilized,” said Austin Kim, Uber’s operation manager for the area, in an interview with Bloomberg.

Do you guys think Uber will bring this on-demand service to other cities on a permanent basis?

Source: Hypebeast