Rail passengers should not have to think about how they get to and from the central station in Gothenburg and Stockholm. MTR Express and Uber are starting a collaboration to bring customers all the way from door to door.

This week customers will not only be able to travel between Stockholm and Göteborg central stations, but all the way to their final destinations. “Customers are demanding a way to travel between two points, not between two train stations. That’s why it feels natural to make it easier for them to take an Uber when they arrive at the stations,” says Johan Soor, CEO of MTR Express.

The two companies see travel as seamless as customers should not have to think about how to sew their journey from one point to another. Instead, they should be able to take an Uber to the central station, the train between the cities and then a Uber to their final destination.

In practical terms the cooperation looks like this: customers who buy a train ticket for MTR Express get offers to take Uber cars to and from the train stations. Fifteen minutes before the train arrives at the end stations MTR passengers receive a text message asking if they want to book an Uber car from the central station.

“Today about 10 percent of MTR’s rail passengers take a taxi to get from the train’s final destination to their personal destination. With this partnership we hope to increase this percentage to 50 percent,”says Johan Soor. MTR Express trains have been running between Stockholm and Gothenburg since 2015. Even Uber is a relatively new acquaintance on the Swedish market. In 2013, the company premiered and had annual sales of nearly 4 million SEK. 2014 sales amounted to nearly 9 million SEK.

The fact that both companies are new to the market was one of the main reasons that companies started their cooperation. “We’re both little ones in each area, but also two fast-growing companies that have a strong focus on digital solutions, so it felt natural to work together,” said Alok Alström, Uber’s Sweden manager.

• From door to door. MTR Express CEO John Soor and übers CEO Alok Alström to cooperate. Photo: Jack Mikrut