Of the dozens of world-famous elements that make New York City what it is, the Big Apple’s traffic and its pizza rank highly on that list. How fitting then that Uber decided to mark a Manhattan milestone with some greasy, foldable slices and even more cars on the road.
To celebrate the ride-hailing app’s fifth year operating in NYC, Uber announced that it would be running a special program in the first week of May to offer discounted rides and free slices of New York-style pizza in rotating buroughs each day. For example, Monday (May 2) is Staten Island’s turn to celebrate with Uber, which means all rides on UberPOOL that start and end within the burough are just $5 and anyone who shows the Uber app at Staten Island’s Joe and Pat’s will get a free slice for their trouble.
Tuesday, the “party” moves to the Bronx, followed by Queens, Brooklyn and Manhattan proper on Friday to close out the week. Unfortunately, New Yorkers will not be eligible for Uber’s yacht business.
“Five years ago we arrived in New York City, and it’s been an incredible journey ever since,” Uber said in a blog post. “To our riders, thank you for letting us be your ride. To our driver-partners — thanks to you, New Yorkers have a safe, reliable way to connect with the people and places that matter most. In just 5 years we went from moving thousands of people to millions; and as the number of riders continues to grow, it’s exciting to see the most growth happening in areas outside of Manhattan.”
Uber isn’t lying about its growth in non-Manhattan NYC – in 2011, just 8.2 percent of its rides either began or ended outside the city proper, but as of 2016 that number had skyrocketed to 34.6 percent.
Just imagine where Uber would be today if they had offered free pizza back in 2011, too.
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