Uber to discontinue split-fare feature in April

If you are always traveling with a friend and used to splitting fares, there’s a bit of bad, inconvenient news: Uber is temporarily removing this feature. It will be discontinued, so you might think of other ways to split the bill to avoid the awkward moments of reminding a friend about it. 

The company sent an email to the customers to notify them reading:

“We are sorry to let you know that from March 21st, we are discontinuing the ‘Split fare’ feature, which allows you to share the price of a trip with other riders. While we know it can be frustrating to lose a feature that you have come to rely on, rest assured that we are continuously working to improve your Ride sharing experience in other new ways, so watch this space.

“All other features will still continue to be a part of your usual Uber experience, and we hope to see you on the road with your family and friends again soon.”

However, Uber spokesperson Conor Ferguson later confirmed that the date indicated in the email is an error. Instead of March 21st, the feature will be pulled out sometime in April. Moreover, the email also failed to detail the company’s reason for doing this and the particular step that will follow this. According to Uber, it is currently developing a new feature that will replace the one that will be removed. This was confirmed by Mashable after it had received an email from an Uber spokesperson that reads:

“We are in the process of reworking how riders split fares and the feature will be temporarily removed from the Uber app next month. We know this is a popular feature, so rest assured that we are planning to roll out a new, improved version in the coming months.”

With this, riders would have to find other alternatives to pay for their rides in the meantime. Ferguson suggested using other mobile payment apps in splitting the Uber fare, underlining Venmo in the choices. However, this would be a problem in the UK, where Venmo is unavailable.