On June 30 Kyiv (Kiev), the Ukrainian capital, was added to the map of Uber’s global operations, joining a group of some 450 cities. City mayor Vitali Klitschko was the first client of the service.
As reported by Ukrainian tech blog AIN.UA, the service was presented officially by Arkadiy Veshebenyuk, General Manager at Uber Ukraine, and Anthony Le Roux, General Manager at Uber Eastern Europe.
Prior to the launch, some 40,000 people had made attempts to book a ride via Uber in Kyiv. This is one of the highest rates the service can boast in the EMEA region, noted Le Roux.
Several hours after the launch, the app was downloaded 12,500 times, Ukrainian Internet entrepreneur Ilia Kenigshtein posted on his page on Facebook.
On July 4 the Uber app stood as the second most downloaded on the Ukrainian Appstore, ceding only to super popular mobile photo app Prisma.
Uber Ukraine General Manager Arkadiy Veshebenyuk presenting the service (photo credit: AIN.UA)
UberX is the first among the Uber products to be made available to Kyiv inhabitants.
Uber vehicles must be 2008 or newer. The minimum price of a ride is 40 hryvnyas, or approximately $2 at the current exchange rate. The commission fee raised by Uber amounts to 25%.
Veshebenyuk said that the company is interested in all Ukrainian major cities, without specifying any immediate target.
PrivatBank, a major, innovation-friendly Ukrainian bank, will integrate local payment systems to the Uber platform, according to AIN.UA.
Uber started enrolling drivers in Ukraine early this year with support from the Ukrainian government, provoking strong opposition among taxi drivers.
