Uber rolling out scheduled rides in Houston

“Even though we pride ourselves on providing on-demand rides, we totally get it”, Kaitlin Durkosh, an Uber representative, tells the Freep via e-mail.

Uber’s Scheduled Rides, which launched as a pilot program first in Seattle, is now officially live in Boston, offering the option to schedule your trip at a certain time 30 minutes – or 30 days – in advance.

Previously, Uber riders could not schedule ahead and had to hail a ride via the smartphone application from whatever Uber drivers happened to be on the road at that time.

“Set your pickup date, time, location, and destination. You’ll be notified after your ride is on the way, as well as whether surge pricing applies”.

These scheduled rides will be immediately available to all Business Profile and Uber for Business users since ride scheduling is a top-requested feature from business travelers. The service, which debuted earlier this summer in Seattle, allows users to request an UberX auto 15 minutes to 30 days ahead of time. As of Wednesday, it’s available to those with Uber business accounts, but the company said it plans to roll out the feature to riders with personal accounts as well within the next few weeks.

This is especially helpful for those needing a ride to the airport.