Ride-hailing company Uber has launched private chartered boats in Mykonos, Greece, which will commence operations this summer.
During the company’s third annual Go-GET product event in New York on Wednesday, it added a new mode of transportation to its latest updates, announcing its plan to launch boat travel in Greece, allowing locals, vacationers, and boat lovers to book a boat directly via the Uber app and explore beautiful island destinations via the water.
The privately chartered Uber boats will be able to carry the right people, and the price will reflect the number of stops on a given trip, among other factors. Each boat comes with a skipper to drive customers from port to port, stopping at the best swimming spots.
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Uber disclosed that Mykonos will be the first of Greece’s destinations to support the travel option, with potentially more destinations in the coastline country to follow.
It is worth noting that Uber has offered boating options in the past. In 2019, the company launched a boat transportation service in Lagos, Nigeria’s commercial hub. The Inland transportation was in partnership with the Texas Connection Ferries, a local boat operator, and the Lagos State Waterways Authority.
Also, in 2023, the giant ride-hailing company launched its “Boat to Work” initiative, in San Francisco, CA, USA 2023. The company, in partnership with Thames Clippers and London’s ferry service, later launched Uber Boat in London in 2020, offering the city’s commuters another on-water route. Meanwhile, the recently launched private chartered boats in Mykonos, Greece, are different from the ones in London, as it is not owned by a third party.
Uber has continued to redefine what users expect from transportation, hooking customers on the immediacy of on-demand rides with a few clicks on a smartphone.
There are speculations that Uber is perhaps feeling the pressure to expand into new markets as ridesharing bookings have surged post-pandemic. In Q1, the ride-hailing company’s first-quarter earnings came in above estimates, driving shares of the company to rise 7%. In the first quarter, Uber’s revenue of $8.82 billion topped analysts’ expectations by about $100 million.
Uber relied heavily on growth in its Eats delivery business during the Covid pandemic, but its mobility segment surpassed Eats revenue in every quarter of 2022 as riders began to take more trips. That trend continued during the first quarter of this year, as the company’s mobility segment reported $4.33 billion in revenue while delivery reported $3.09 billion.
Uber expects to post operating income profitability this year and keep its workforce flat after headcount fell in the first quarter. For the second quarter of 2023, Uber said it expects to report gross bookings between $33 billion to $34 billion, and an adjusted EBITDA of $800 million to $850 million.