Uber Launches Luxury Service in Los Angeles
Uber is putting on the Ritz in Los Angeles.
The on-demand car service has rolled out premium offering UberLUX to a select group of riders. Emails hit the inboxes of some of Uber's most "valued riders" Thursday morning, offering them early access to UberLUX, which will eventually become available to all Angelenos.
UberLUX offers rides in high-end vehicles — think Tesla Model S, Mercedes Benz S-Class or BMW 7-Series — from Uber's top-rated drivers. But luxury comes with a price.
The base fare for an UberLUX ride is $20 and the minimum fare is $30. Compare that to the base far of $8 and minimum fare of $15 for an Uber Black ride.
Uber has offered LUX as a pop-up option in select cities in the past, but it appears that Los Angeles is the only U.S. city where LUX is currently available.
Uber has come under fire recently after executive Emil Michael was reported as saying at a dinner party that the company could spend "a million dollars" to hire a team to help it fight bad press. CEO Travis Kalanick later apologized for the incident in a stream of Tweets. The company has also faced criticism about the safety of its service after two separate reports of drivers raping passengers — one in Boston and one in New Delhi — emerged this month.
By: Natalie Jarvey
