Hello Ride-Hailing: Holiday Carpool Demand to Hit 80M Orders, Up 30% YoY

The striking detail is the mix, not the volume: premium-vehicle demand doubling year on year suggests holiday carpooling is shifting from a purely cost-driven backup toward a preferred option for longer intercity trips. For ride-hailing and mobility platforms, that has margin implications, since premium bookings carry different economics than standard pooled rides. The twin-peak structure also concentrates supply pressure into two narrow windows, making driver availability the binding constraint rather than demand itself. Whether the premium shift persists beyond the holiday surge is the open question.