How India Ubered in 2023 - A year in rear view

As we bid goodbye to 2023, Uber India today released highlights of its annual data report - How India Ubered - encapsulating the key trends from how India moved this year.

The analysis from the trips in 2023 revealed some very interesting trends about cities with the highest number of trips, the total number of kilometers covered in Uber rides, popular travel trends in intercity travel, the city with the most late-night trips, and also several rider preferences. Backed by data and insights the report spotlights increasing relevance of ride sharing in India and efforts to create sustainable cities for the future. 

The year 2023 was one that saw Indians breaking travel records, with several new rider trends emerging and evolving the way people move around their cities. Uber remained the favorite mobility companion through the changes, with products across categories finding love from riders. Uber trips during the year covered a record 6.8 billion kilometers, which is enough to traverse the entire 6.37-million-kilometer road network in India more than a thousand times over, or nearly thrice everyday. 

Uber Auto and Uber Go continued to be the most popular products in the country, with the former pipping it’s four-wheeled sibling to the finish line. This is testament to the growing love among Indians for booking Autos through apps, a product that was historically street-hailed. 

The cities with the highest number of Uber trips in 2023 are Delhi-NCR, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Mumbai, Pune, and Kolkata. 

While Delhi-NCR did have the overall highest number of trips, Mumbai beat the national capital in terms of the most late-night trips booked, while Kolkata indulged in weekend travel the most. Residents of Delhi NCR used Uber for their work commute the most among all cities, and had the highest number of office-hour trips booked.

Below is an overview of insights from ‘How India Ubered in 2023’:

• Most Uber trips were booked between 6PM and 7PM
• The most popular day of the week for booking an Uber was Saturday
• The travel month of December has seen the highest number of rides being booked in a single month, with Durga Puja and the Christmas weekend being the most popular days in terms of number of trips booked.
• The wee hours of the morning, between 4AM and 5AM saw the highest number of Uber Reserve trips being booked to airports, with riders across the country not wanting to risk missing their first alarm.
• In terms of preferences for Uber Rentals rides with multiple stops, most riders opted for the 2 hour, 20 kilometer package, helping them get done with business meetings, doctor visits, and other chores.
• Uber Bus saw 74,000 first-time users experience the ease of booking a seat on a mass transit product through an app.
• Mumbai’s favorite weekend getaway Lonavala was the most frequented tourist destination in 2023 using the popular Uber Intercity.
• Indians traveled 64 million kilometers in EVs through the year, spending a total of 9 million hours, helping contain carbon emissions and building a greener future.

India’s Uber 6

(Top 6 cities in India with the highest number of Uber rides in 2023, in no particular order)

1. Delhi NCR
2. Bengaluru
3. Hyderabad
4. Mumbai
5. Pune
6. Kolkata

Fastest Cities in India (Avg speed):

(The top 5 cities in India in terms of the fastest average speeds clocked on the roads, in descending order)

1. Chandigarh
2. Ahmedabad
3. Delhi-NCR
4. Lucknow
5. Mysore

India’s Top Intercity Routes
(India’s top 5 intercity routes this 2023)

1. Mumbai - Pune
2. Delhi - Meerut
3. Lucknow - Kanpur
4. Mumbai - Lonavala
5. Mumbai - Nashik

 Top 5 Longest Trips
(Top 5 longest Intercity trips by kilometers traveled, including round trips on Intercity)

1. Jaipur- Delhi Airport- Fatehpur Sikri - Chomu (Rajasthan) - Bangaon (Haryana)
2. Manesar - Dungargarh (Rajasthan) - Hisar (Haryana) - Manesar
3. Manesar - Kasol (Himachal Pradesh ) - Sonipat
4. Delhi - Kanpur - Delhi
5. Jaipur- Anuppur (Madhya Pradesh)

Uber launched several new products and features during the year, including its flagship sustainability option Uber Green, and round trips on Uber Intercity, with each of them garnering love from riders throughout the country. The company’s journey planning product, Uber Reserve, has been enhanced using industry-leading technology, including the option to book rides up to 90 days in advance. 

Over the past 10 years, Uber has become a household name in more than 125 cities across the country. The ridesharing company has provided over Rs 500 billion in earnings to more than 3 million drivers, and has helped millions of Indians go where they wanted to, just at the tap of a button.