Using Uber in Dubai — All Relevant Specifics

Using Uber in Dubai — All Relevant Specifics

There’re many means to get around Dubai with. And of them, Uber is one. How do you use Uber in Dubai? This and other many Uber-related topics form the crux of this article.

Other means besides Uber are the Dubai Taxi (goes round Dubai and beyond), the Dubai Bus (covers a really great deal of Dubai but is not flexible), the Dubai Metro (covers only two significant routes), and the Dubai Tram (covers the Dubai Marina area to Al Sufouh). Some more limited ones are the Palm Jumeirah Monorail and the Dubai Trolley. To learn meaningfully about them, see getting around Dubai.

If you already use Uber in some city, then it may suffice that you’ve known Uber operates in Dubai. This answers the question of “Can I use Uber in Dubai?”

A Brief Overview on Uber

Needless to mention Uber is a transportation service. While they have other services such as Uber Eats (delivering food from your desired restaurant to you), Uber Drive (car driving opportunities for drivers), Uber Business, Uber Freight, Uber Air, this article focuses on Uber Ride — the service with which they convey you from one place to another.

Serving over 700 cities and partnering with organizations, cities and transit systems, Uber is quite a top-notch transportation service predicated upon universally accepted standards. Whether you love you trip in a high-end car or in a luxury one, Uber is a good fit.

Why Should I Travel with Uber?

Uber
Credit: Medium.com

Sequel to the foregoing paragraph, this section touches upon some specifics on why Uber should be the option.

Is Uber Safe and Is It Safe in Dubai?

We should say yes. Safety forms a significant part of Uber’s foundation. From the the cars through the app to the driver, they strive to ensure there’s safety for the passenger, such that customers have peace of mind as they travel.

Through partnerships with leading organizations, they’re helping to make driving safer, preventing incidents on the road. Further, all potential Uber driver-partners are relevantly screened to see if they’re good fits for the job. They’re also educated on the warning signs of human trafficking.

The Uber app boasts some indispensable features to ensure your safety such as an emergency assistance button, GPS tracking, and a trip sharing feature. The emergency assistance button enables you to call for help if you need it. Displaying your location, the app helps authorities to easily find you. By virtue of the GPS tracking, all Uber rides are tracked by GPS from start to finish. In this way, there’s a record of your trip should anything happen.

The app’s trip sharing feature lets you set up Trusted Contacts and create reminders to share your trip status with friends and family in real time. Using the emergency assistance button should have powerful gains as the Uber customer support team is allegedly specially trained to respond to urgent safety issues.

Smart Pickups

When you request a ride, the app automatically suggests a convenient place where you should meet your driver. To adjust your location, tap Edit on the app and type in a new address or drag your pin on the map within the “gray circle” and tap Confirm to complete process. This is useful if you made a mistake or changed your mind.

Real-time Upfront Pricing

Before you confirm a trip, you can see price estimates. This way, you wouldn’t have to be in the clouds or guess inaccurately.

Driver Profile

By virtue of its app, Uber lets you learn about your driver. What can I learn about a driver in their profile? The language(s) they speak, their hobbies, their trip history, why they drive and their ratings and compliments. So how do I check the profile of my driver? You first have to request a ride as you normally would, once a driver accepts your trip, you’ll be able to scroll down to a card that opens their profile.

How Does Dubai Taxi Compare with Uber Cars — Uber Alternative

Dubai Taxi
Credit: KhaleejTimes.com

As regards cost-effectiveness, Dubai Taxi is generally more inexpensive than Uber’s most inexpensive cars — their high-end cars. Uber’s rides for up to four persons are premium with the least car being high-end and the better luxury. The Dubai Taxi may be as comfortable, safe and as fast as the Uber high-end cars. Learn about the Dubai Taxi. A possible edge of Uber’s cars over the Dubai Taxi is that Uber’s cars are ostensibly private.

How To Book An Uber Ride

Booking an Uber Ride
Credit: knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu

This process is quite easy.

Create an account

You need to create an account first. An email address and a phone number are required. You can request a ride on your browser or on the Uber app. To download the app, go to the App Store or Google Play.

Enter your destination

Open the app and enter where you’re going into the Where to? box. Tap to confirm your pickup location and tap Confirm again to be matched to a driver nearby.

Meet your driver

You can track their arrival on the map. See that you’re in the pickup location few minutes to the pickup.

Important note:

  • Before entering the Uber car, please make sure you’re getting into the right car with the right driver by matching the license plate, car make and model, and driver photo with what’s provided in your app. So never get in a car where the vehicle or driver’s identity doesn’t match what’s displayed in your app.
  • You may also request a ride via VoiceOver or TalkBalk

Payment

When you’ve arrived, it’d be time to pay for the trip. Depending on your region, you have a couple of options. You could pay using cash or a payment method such as a credit card or Uber Cash balance. You could also use a voucher or Google Pay.

Once you request a cash trip, you’ll be unable to switch to another payment method. It is recommended you review your fare estimate for various vehicle options before you request a ride. This is in order to ensure you’d have enough cash to pay for the trip. So, check to see you have enough money before you take your trip.

You can add a credit card or other payment method to your account anytime. To do this, select PAYMENT from your app menu and tap ADD PAYMENT and follow the process through relevantly (see “To add Google Pay as a payment method” as an example).

Should you no longer need a ride, you could cancel it. If you cancelled a trip, you’d be charged a cancellation fee. This fee is added to your next trip fare. It might form all of it or some of it.

Paying with Google Pay

Riders with Android devices can use Google Pay as a payment method to sign up and pay for their Uber rides. To add Google Pay as a payment method:

  1. Select “Payments” in the menu in your Uber app.
  2. Tap “Add Payment Method”.
  3. Tap “Google Pay”, then “Enable”.
  4. Follow the prompts in your app.

To remove Google Pay, follow the steps above but select “Remove”.

Please note:

  • You cannot switch your payment method to Google Pay after a trip has ended.
  • You can add up to 2 extra stops before or during your ride. Tap + next to the Where to? destination box to enter your address. Your price may be adjusted based on the time and distance of your destination.

You can split/share your fare. You can do this for example when you travel with a friend or friends. With this feature in the app, you wouldn’t need to swap cash — just tell the app to calculate it for you and send you the bill.

Rate your trip

After payment, you should let Uber know about your driver’s performance, give the driver a compliment or a tip via/on the app.

How To Get A Ride with Uber from The Airport

How To Book A Ride with Uber
Credit: TheVerge.com

1. Open your app to request a ride
To get a ride from the Airport, open your app to request a ride. Choose the option that suits your group size and luggage needs.

2. Follow directions in the app
You’d get directions about a pickup point directly in the app. Signs might also be available at the airport.

3. Meet your driver
Go to your assigned pickup location as specified by the app. Please note, this location may not always be at your nearest exit. If you can’t find your driver, contact them through the app.

Please note: pickup timing may vary based on such factors as time of day, and the number of drivers on the road.

Relevant Dubai Airport Services

1. Wi-Fi at Dubai Airport
You may leverage the free, unlimited, and high-speed Wi-Fi available across all areas of the Dubai Airport.

2. Currency exchange
A large number of currency exchange bureaus can be found throughout the DXB Airport. Each terminal features several exchanges.

Car Options with Uber

Uber Car Options
Credit: ParisInfo.com

You have three cars options with Uber.

  1. A premium ride in a high-end car for up to 4 persons.
  2. A premium ride in a luxury car for up to four persons.
  3. An affordable ride for up to six persons.

How Are The Uber Fares Calculated?

Uber Price Estimator
Credit: new.panopticum.me

Depending on the city where you ride with Uber, trip fares may be calculated upfront or immediately after rides end. Here’s how these two types of fares work.

A. Upfront Fares

With upfront pricing, you know the exact cost of your trip before requesting. This fare includes (but is not limited to):

  • A base rate
  • Rates for estimated time and distance of the route
  • The current demand for rides in the area
  • A booking fee and any applicable surcharges, fees, and tolls are also calculated and included.

When you request a ride, you agree to be charged the upfront fare at the trip ends. Your fare may increase if you travel to a different destination or make extra stops along the route, or the trip takes much longer than expected.

If an upfront fare is not honored, you will either be charged the minimum fare or a fare based on the measured time and distance for your trip, including any base fare, booking fee, surcharges, tolls, and other relevant factors such as a dynamic pricing charge.

You’d always get a receipt for any trip fare. If your fare is different than the upfront fare you agreed to, your receipt will explain why. 

B. Post-Trip Fares

Some cities do not provide upfront fares. Instead, you’re charged either a minimum fare or a fare based on the time and distance for your trip’s route, including a base fare, booking fee, surcharges, tolls, and other relevant factors such as dynamic pricing when demand for rides is high in the area of the city where you’re requesting a ride. Fares may vary by location, the vehicle option you select, and other factors. 

We understand that no specifics or sample was given on the Uber Dubai fares. Thus, we recommend your using the Uber price estimator to get approximate fare. All that’s needed is where your journey would start from and where it’d end.

How Do I Create An Uber Account?

How To Create An Uber Account
Credit: YouTube.com

Creating an Uber account with Uber requires a valid email address and phone number. You’d also need to create a password and agree to terms and conditions and Uber’s privacy statement.

  1. Fill in your first and last name, phone number, and preferred language. Once you complete this part of the signup process, you’d be sent a text SMS to verify your phone number.
  2. Next, enter your payment information. Adding a credit card or debit card number allows your trip fares to be automatically charged after each ride. Please note that Uber cannot accept prepaid cards.
  3. After you provide this information, you’ll be sent an email to confirm your account registration. Once you confirm, you’d be able to use your app to request a ride. 

How To Download The Uber Rider App on Android

You can download and install the Uber rider app on Android devices with operating system 4.0.3 and newer. Head to the Google Play store and follow these steps:

  1. Tap the Google Play icon.
  2. Tap the search bar, type Uber, then tap Search.
  3. Select the Uber icon and tap INSTALL.
  4. After app installation is complete, tap OPEN. 
  5. In the Uber app, tap SIGN IN if you have an account or tap REGISTER to create one.
Google play

How To Download The Uber Rider App on iOS

You can download and install the Uber rider app on devices with iOS 8 and newer. Using your mobile device, tap the App Store icon and follow these steps:

  1. Select Search from the menu, type Uber in the search bar, then tap Search.
  2. Select the Uber icon.
  3. Tap GET. Your device may require you to enter your App Store password.
  4. When downloading is complete, GET will change to INSTALL. Tap INSTALL.
  5. When the installation is complete, INSTALL will change to OPEN. Tap OPEN.
  6. In the Uber app, tap SIGN IN if you have an account or tap REGISTER to create.
App Store

Can I use Uber without a smartphone?

Yes, in certain contexts you could request a ride by signing in to m.uber.com.

Conclusion

The Dubai taxi service is quite good and may serve as good alternative to the Uber ride service. You could read about them here. And you can’t miss learning about getting around Dubai. Stay guided.

References:
Uber.com 2 & 3