Toronto is important to Uber’s growth, CEO stresses

Company hinting at revolutionizing public transportation

Uber Technologies Inc. is building a road map to become more than a ridehailing app and it’s chief executive is indicating Toronto will figure into that transition.

Dara Khosrowshahi hinted at global plans for bus and train services, the expansion of its Jump bike and e-scooter rentals, more partnerships with public transit providers and autonomous vehicle efforts in an interview with The Canadian Press, where he stressed how important the city is to the company’s growth. “We need to move beyond the car as being the main urban transportation mechanism. I believe a revolution is coming,” he said. “We really want Uber to be the one-stop shop for mobility in any city.”

He made the remarks while he was in Toronto for the first time in his role with Uber to announce a new engineering hub — the company’s eighth outside of the U.S. — and a $200-million expansion of its self-driving vehicle centre in the city. Both are expected to help the San Francisco-based tech giant build and update its infrastructure so it can continue to scale and offer more features and products to riders, drivers and cities.

The mobility revolution Khosrowshahi said he is sensing will centre on single-occupancy electric bikes and scooters, which he called “magical.” In March, Uber acquired Jump Bikes, an electric, dockless bike-sharing service it piloted in San Francisco, and in July it teamed up with Lime to bring electric scooters to its app in some markets.

“I hope that they show up here,” Khosrowshahi said. “It’s something that belongs in every city out there.”

He is even eyeing some more serious modes of transportation. “We want Uber to make bus service available or train service as well,” he said. But before any of those lofty plans can happen, he admitted, “there’s a huge amount of work to be done.” Khosrowshahi and Raquel Urtasun, who is leading Uber’s self-driving car efforts in Canada, said the company still doesn’t have a timeline for how soon autonomous Uber cars will be hitting the streets and be able to be hailed by consumers.