Amidst reports that Uber is moving its focus away from less lucrative elements of its business toward core delivery and taxi services, the company has announced that it is to stop running its van hire and taxi offerings in Hong Kong commencing this coming Sunday, and will focus onits ride sharing UberX as well as UberBlack services.

The South China Morning Post published a story today (30th Agust) where an Uber spokesperson said that the company has made the move to realign its business and “phase out…  some options that are not as commonly used.”

“Ride-sharing services are Uber’s core business and represent the overwhelming majority of rides in Hong Kong,” the spokesperson was quoted as saying.

The international taxi company launched its van service in Hong Kong at the beginning of last year. The market there is very competitive with other companies such as GoGoVan and Lalamove (EasyVan) among its key competiiors there.

In other Uber news, the company has lately announced that it will withdraw from the Macau market within the next two weeks because of penalties that the island authorities have imposed on its drivers.

Uber has also temporarily suyspended its services in Abu Dhabi as has its rival ride hailing service Careem. It is not clear exactly what has happened though it appears that the two companies took this step as a precautionary measure after a number of Careem drivers were detained by authorities.

The concept of Uber is not dead, with its great success in other territories. It has however hit buffers in some territories due to local concerns. It is likely that Uber will change with the times and move on from these issues…