An Uber car (Laura Dale/PA)
(Picture: PA Archive)Long ago, in the years pre-coronavirus, Uber Pool was an option enjoyed by many who used the transportation mobile app.
If you’re not familiar: Uber Pool was essentially a cheaper, more affordable option that was offered upon confirming your ride that typically knocked at least $5 off the price. Depending on the length of the trip and destination, the discount could be higher.
But here was the catch: while on your ride, your driver was allowed to pick up any passengers along the way that were headed in the same direction—meaning your trip could have an unexpected cameo or two from a few random people.
Every once in a while—if you got lucky—there would be no passengers along the way, but truthfully the whole thing really was just a huge gamble.
The option to do so went away when the pandemic began, you know, because being in an enclosed vehicle with more than one person outside your household probably isn’t the best idea for stopping the spread.
And now, more than a year since the feature went away, people are reflecting on how truly absurd the whole thing was.
“You can't convince me that Uber pool wasn’t a collective fever dream. I really would be sitting in the third-row of a suburban in downtown DC on top of someone’s grandma, a politician, and a stripper for 30 minutes of the sweatiest, smelliest, most illogically routed journey home just to save $6,” read the text overlay of a video from TikTok user @hannahellingson5.
In the comments, people shared their own wild stories.
“My last time using pool, everyone in the car got hungry for shrimp and they really wanted the driver to pull over for shrimp and started chanting ‘SHRIMP,’” wrote one person.
Another person commented, “One time my Uber pool literally picked someone up from jail.”
“Literally took an Uber pool. Picked up a girl crying because of her boyfriend...next person to get in the car? The boyfriend,” read another comment.
“omg once I was in a uber pool with a couple going to their one-year anniversary dinner in black-tie attire.. yall couldn’t just pay the extra $6,” wrote one person.
One comment read, “One time I was in an uber pool with a man and his small dog. they asked if they could eat some of the groceries I had just gotten from Target.”
Not everyone had bad memories though.
One person defended the app’s feature and said, “IT WAS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN AN $18 RIDE AND A $9 RIDE. WE USED TO BE A COUNTRY. A PROPER COUNTRY.”
