Crossing the Bosphorus in style just got easier, as Uber has chosen the Turkish city to launch its nautical division – UberBoat
Controversial taxi firm Uber hopes to make inroads into the Turkish market with its latest idea, UberBoat, which recently launched in Istanbul.
The Turkish capital is spread across both sides of the river Bosphorus, posing a unique problem for city travellers.
However, UberBoat hopes to solve this by allowing Turkish residents and visitors to flag down a speedboat using their smartphone.
All the boats involved are operated by luxury sea transport company Navette, whose fleet includes the Bénéteau Antares 8 (pictured above).
Rates start at 50 Turkish lira per trip (roughly £12), but the fare can be split between up to eight people and new customers get a 30 lira discount on their first trip.
Of course the local passenger ferry is still a much cheaper bet at 2 lira per person, but the firm hopes that the speed and style of hitching a ride on a Bénéteau across the Bosphorus will tempt punters to cough up that little bit extra.
The launch of UberBoat comes exactly one year after the firm first launched in Istanbul, which is rated by TomTom as the world’s most congested city.
Back in April, Uber released a fake press release claiming that it would be launching a boat service in Thailand, but it seems the response was positive enough for the company to turn this April Fools’ Day prank into a real project.
