While Parisian cab drivers took to the streets to pillage and burn Uber vehicles last Thursday, the ever-contentious ridesharing company was quietly rolling out UberBoat across the continent in Istanbul.
Yep, you heard that right. In Istanbul you can now tap a button on your phone and summon a speed boat to ferry you across the Bosphorous Strait, a waterway that forms part of the boundary between the European and Asian sides of the city.
The trip will cost about $19 USD, but the Beneteau boats Uber’s using, which belong to local boat company Navette-Tezman Holding, can carry about 6 to 8 people at once. That still ends up being a bit pricier than public ferries, which according to Bloomberg, serve about 20 routes across the strait for a basic price of 81 US cents. Hopefully that price gap will differentiate the two services enough that Uber doesn’t start sparking sea riots, as well.
