Uber is considering making water taxis a permanent feature of its app-based transport service, after a successful trial in Sydney this week.
In a limited test, Uber employed three boats on Sydney Harbour for just four hours on a Sunday afternoon, and told TechRadar that it was pleased with how customers took to the extra service.
"Each of the drivers picked up several Uber trips despite us making no effort to promote the product," said Uber's David Rohrsheim.
"Regular Uber users who were planning to book cars from A to B ... went for the Boat option when they saw it presented inside the app."
I do like to be beside the seaside
These users found the boat option when logging into the app on their phones, with icons for the three boats visible on the updating map within the app.
One customer tweeted during the trial saying they used a boat to send friends home from a party, and that they were happy with the service and with the $30 price tag for the trip.
Uber is now speaking with local water taxi services about how to make the service a standard feature in the Uber app for Sydney customers, with hopes to have it ready by next Summer.
On the back of this successful pilot in Sydney, the service could easily see its way into several of the other major cities where Uber currently operates, like Seattle, Boston or in Amsterdam.
The taxi alternative now operates in over 30 international cities, with launch in the French city Lyon being the most recent addition to the company's reach.
