Uber Says Rides During "Party Hours" Are Keeping it Afloat

Uber is doing better — because more people are ignoring social distancing.

Happy Hour

Uber expected that its sharp drop in business due to the pandemic would be corrected as people started going back to work — but instead, people are calling rides to go socialize.

On a conference call with Bank of American analysts, Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi laid out the main factors that have led to a moderate bounce-back in Uber's business, according to Business Insider. And while there were a few categories of new trips, Khosrowshahi specifically pointed to an increase in business during "party hours."

Party Time

"Our early hypothesis was that the use case of people going back to work will be the leading use case, and we saw some signal there," Khosrowshahi said, according to BI.

"But actually, the return is pretty broad," he added. "Party hours in a lot of these markets. People want to get out again safely, where they want to get out again, they want to socialize again and kind of get as much as they can their prior lives back."

Eating Out

In addition to alleged partygoers, Khosrowshahi added that the company has seen a sustained surge in food delivery during the pandemic.

But for now, company growth has been limited to select markets like Hong Kong, where Uber is reportedly seeing 80 percent of its normal numbers.

READ MORE: Uber says it's not people going back to work fueling its recovery — it's people going out during 'party hours' [Business Insider]

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