Ridesharing comes to Lithuania
Last month we signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Municipality of Vilnius, the capital of Lithuania. That agreement outlined a new partnership between the city authorities and Uber to work together to launch a ridesharing pilot. Today, we launched that pilot, making Vilnius our 357th city and Lithuania our 66th country.
Lithuania and Uber share an objective in creating best-practice regulations that will allow both consumers and the state to reap the benefits of the on-demand digital economy. As outlined in the MOU — and as we recently discussed — ridesharing offers many benefits for riders, drivers and cities:
- Mobility: ridesharing brings new transportation choices and complements public transport
- Consumer choice: especially for those who do not own a car or live in areas without public transit or many taxis
- Safety: in particular, a reduction in rates of drunk driving
- Economic benefits: flexible economic opportunities for drivers and new tax revenues for governments
- Environment: over time, less car ownership means less traffic and less pollution
And from our first rider in Lithuania, TV host and activist Beata Tiškevič-Hasanova, who said:
“I’m thrilled to be the first person in Lithuania to try Uber. I’ve never tried it before so I’m even more excited to do it in the city I love so much. Vilnius combines this unique blend of serene history and vibrant modernism — energetic and flexible Uber is a perfect match. I really enjoyed my first Uber trip which was fast, comfortable and safe.”
