Uber slashes UberX fares in 16 cities in the US, says it's cheaper than taxis

Uber, a startup that connects passengers with drivers of vehicles for hire and ridesharing services, has slashed its prices for its low-cost service, UberX, in some US cities.

The prices have been cut-down in 16 cities out of 23 where it is offered in the US, to make it more competitive with other services. The cities included are Atlanta, Baltimore, Charlotte, Chicago, Dallas, Denver, Indianapolis, Los Angeles, Minneapolis-St. Paul, Nashville, Orange County, Phoenix, Sacramento, San Francisco, Seattle, and Tucson.

At some places, the prices will be slashed by up to 30 percent, according to Travis Kalanick, CEO of Uber. For instance, the UberX service will drop by 30 percent in Orange County followed by San Francisco with 20 percent and others who will see the cuts by up to 12 percent, reports Techcrunch.

Announcing the price cuts in a blog post, Kalanick said:

What if Uber was actually the cheapest ride in every Uber city? What if we lowered rates in 16 of our 24 uberX cities? And what if some of those cuts pushed the envelope of what we even think is possible?

That's exactly what we're doing.

On average across all Uber cities, uberX is 26 percent cheaper than a taxi.

The fare cuts will pressurize the competitors and would be able to reach more number of users at the same time. Kalanick, giving another example, stated that instead of giving $51 in a cab from LAX to Hollywood, the UberX would only cost $29.50. Similarly, in San Francisco, a cab would only cost $8 instead of $11 from the Mission to SOMA.

Uber may also expand its market in other parts of the world adding new cities with its slashed prices. Since Uber expanded internationally in 2013, the current number of markets in total is 70.

Uber has also stealthily rolled out its service in Bangalore in August, marking its entry into the Indian market. In a blog post, Uber had mentioned that it will be in a secret testing mode in Bangalore for several weeks, and that availability will be limited as it works to make more cars available and test its pricing. It had also mentioned that it's looking to hire people in India and that the position of a 'rockstar' community manager is open in Bangalore.