What's that about? Uber pick-up stations

Pioneering ride-sharing service Uber is taking us back to the cab ranks of yore, it would seem, after the company recently introduced fixed pick-up spots for riders and drivers around Beijing called UberSTATIONs. 

The stations have been installed around Beijing in that hope that ‘Uber riders and drivers can [now] find each other easily, especially in areas that the rider may not be familiar with or in locations with complicated traffic patterns.’ 

Of the 40 UberSTATIONS now in play around the capital, eight are world-first Uber ArtSTATIONS – a collaboration between Uber and Artand that profiles works from ‘promising local artists’, such as the wailing naked toddler on technicolour rooster pictured above, which is outside the new Topwin Center in Sanlitun.

Uber Chengdu launched 'Panda-themed' UberSTATIONs in March

Uber China planted its first UberSTATIONs in Shenzhen this time last year, with the company rolling out UberSTATION 2.0 (complete with ordering screen) in Tianjin and Shenzhen during April 2016.

So then, is it back to the taxi queue for the busy Beijinger? Not neccesarily: you still have the option of flagging an Uber on the the fly, with the stations merely helping out in tricky locations. Either way, we'd be lying if we weren’t excited about saying ‘I’ll wait for you beside the avant-garde polar bear.’