Uber partners with Berlin-based travel service Omio to test train and coach bookings via its app in the UK, using Omio's inventory across 1,000+ providers
Context & Ripple Effects
This test is the first concrete delivery of a strategy Uber flagged earlier in 2022, when it said it would add intercity trains, coaches, and flights to its UK app. Rather than build rail inventory itself, Uber is renting it from Omio, the Berlin-based aggregator whose $100M raise in 2020 funded exactly this kind of multi-provider inventory play.
The partnership extends an established playbook: Uber has already bolted car rentals onto its UK app via CarTrawler, and the travel expansion kept going after this test, with flight bookings added through Hopper. Each vertical is sourced from a specialist partner, keeping Uber as the front door.
First-order effects
- UK riders gain train and coach booking inside the Uber app, drawing on Omio's inventory of 1,000+ transport providers — a direct challenge to standalone journey-planning apps for trip discovery.
- Omio gets a high-frequency distribution channel into Uber's UK user base without spending on consumer acquisition, monetizing inventory it already aggregates.
Second-order effects
- Rail and coach operators gain a new sales surface but cede the customer relationship to whoever owns the app layer, echoing how CarTrawler-powered rentals positioned Uber between renters and rental firms.
- Rival mobility and travel apps face pressure to match one-tap multimodal booking, likely pushing them toward similar aggregator partnerships rather than proprietary inventory.
Third-order effects
- If the pattern holds, ride-hailing platforms consolidate into travel super apps where the durable asset is the interface and payment rails, while inventory aggregation becomes outsourced infrastructure — a structure that favors aggregators like Omio as B2B suppliers.
- Multi-provider booking intermediaries may consolidate further, since every super app needs one, and Omio has signaled openness to M&A in the sector.
The trend: Ride-hailing apps are becoming multimodal travel super apps by licensing third-party booking inventory instead of building it, turning aggregators like Omio into invisible supply layers.