Uber To Introduce Fixed-Route Shuttles In Major US Cities (techcrunch.com) 65
Uber is launching a fixed-route shuttle service in major U.S. cities that offers commuters up to 50% off UberX fares during weekday peak hours. Called "Route Share," the service aims to provide a more affordable, predictable alternative to standard ride-hailing. TechCrunch reports: The commuter shuttles will drive between pre-set stops every 20 minutes, according to Sachin Kansal, Uber's chief product officer. He noted that there will be dozens of routes in each launch city -- like between Williamsburg and Midtown in NYC. The routes, which are selected based on Uber's extensive data on popular travel patterns, might have one or two additional stops to pick up other passengers. To start, riders will only ever have to share the route with up to two other co-riders.
Riders can book a seat anywhere from seven days to 10 minutes before a scheduled pickup, and the app will provide them with turn-by-turn directions to get them from their house to the corner where they'll be picked up. Uber is relying on the same underlying technology that it uses for Uber Share, its shared rides offering where riders can get 15% to 30% off the cost of an UberX ride by pooling with others. Kansal told TechCrunch that Uber completes millions of shared trips annually and has been seeing more traction lately as riders look for more ways to save. Hence, Route Share.
Uber envisions a future where Route Share could qualify for pre-tax commuter benefits. However, as a spokesperson noted, the company would need to find a way to match those trips with Uber XL vehicles. That's because only six-seater vehicles would meet the eligibility requirements. A potential progression of Route Share would involve autonomous vehicles, particularly in chaotic cities like New York City, where no self-driving car companies have deigned to test.
Riders can book a seat anywhere from seven days to 10 minutes before a scheduled pickup, and the app will provide them with turn-by-turn directions to get them from their house to the corner where they'll be picked up. Uber is relying on the same underlying technology that it uses for Uber Share, its shared rides offering where riders can get 15% to 30% off the cost of an UberX ride by pooling with others. Kansal told TechCrunch that Uber completes millions of shared trips annually and has been seeing more traction lately as riders look for more ways to save. Hence, Route Share.
Uber envisions a future where Route Share could qualify for pre-tax commuter benefits. However, as a spokesperson noted, the company would need to find a way to match those trips with Uber XL vehicles. That's because only six-seater vehicles would meet the eligibility requirements. A potential progression of Route Share would involve autonomous vehicles, particularly in chaotic cities like New York City, where no self-driving car companies have deigned to test.
Gee whizz- (Score:5, Funny)
Re: (Score:2)
When you think about it, Uber hasn't invented anything. If you recall, before Uber, there were taxis. In those days, you had to *call* for a taxi, you know, on a telephone. All Uber did, was make an app to summon them instead. Sure, they made it easier to become a driver, and they marketed the system as "ride sharing," but it's really no different in any important way, from taxi service of old.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Of course, there are differences. Summarizing what you said, Uber gives people far better customer service. But they didn't invent anything, they just did it better.
Same with the bus thing. Yeah, definitely a good thing.
Re: (Score:1)
Invention isn't required to make money. All you have to do is provide something people are willing to pay for. Even more so if you offer better pricing or more convenience than already exists.
Even at the same price point, Uber offers a better service than taxis, due to the convenience of features of using an app rather than talking on the phone. Hell, I'd pay MORE just for that reason.
Re: (Score:2)
Yes of course. My comment was in reply to OP, who joked that no one had ever thought of this idea before. My point is exactly, that invention isn't required to make a good business. Just good customer service.
Re: Gee whizz- (Score:2)
So tech bros invented... (Score:5, Insightful)
So tech bros invented trains and bus lines again? Good jorb.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
I can never win. I came here to say precisely this thing. Still - objectively - privatized bus routes are better than no bus routes at all, right?
Bus routes already exist. Every major and minor city has such service.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: So tech bros invented... (Score:4, Interesting)
So the racist southern states shut down the bus lines rather than integrating, just like they filled public pools with concrete.
Re: (Score:2)
As an American I can confidently say if you find a weird quirk of our country or a oddball practice the rest of the world doesn't have it's almost always because of racism.
That's where our tipping culture came from. It was a workaround to avoid paying black people minimum wage.
Re: (Score:2)
It started out as racism, but then kind of just evolved into colorblind classism. As a resident of a southern state (Florida), let me say in no uncertain terms, they hate poor people of any skin color equally here.
Honestly, it's why you'll quite often hear things from the right-wing that sound dismissive of claims of racism, because if you're poor and white you've probably experienced parts of what began a systemic racism working against you too. You'd think that racist policies backfiring might be a good
Re: (Score:1)
Tipping was imported from Europe by wealthy people who brought the practice to America.
Re: (Score:2)
I can never win. I came here to say precisely this thing. Still - objectively - privatized bus routes are better than no bus routes at all, right?
Bus routes already exist. Every major and minor city has such service.
Think of this more like a shared cab, only with strangers.
Re: (Score:2)
In my area we have something called Share a Ride. It's a small bus from the city taxi service which picks up multiple people. It's slightly cheaper than a regular cab though it might take a bit longer to get home. Essentially the same thing.
Re: (Score:2)
As an example (I’m sure there are better in Europe).
London public transport journeys (2023): 3.6 billion, around 360 per person per year (one per day).
Los Angeles public transport journeys (2023): 0.3 billion, around 24 per person per year (one per fortnight).
Not a totally fair comparison (Score:2)
London has its excellent underground network which, combined with overground rail service, get just about everywhere. LA sprawls and struggles to provide public transport because its sprawl leads to low population densities making buses have a smaller potential catchment population. At some point that renders buses completely non-viable.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: So tech bros invented... (Score:2)
Sure, they have them, but not necessarily where you live. There is not one bus stop within 2 miles of my home in San Jose. But I don't think Uber is going to be running a shuttle from the top of the hill either, somehow.
Re: (Score:2)
privatized bus routes are better than no bus routes at all, right?
Until they use this half-assed program to kill real public transit, like Musk tried to do with the hyperloop.
Re: (Score:2)
Until they use this half-assed program to kill real public transit, like Musk tried to do with the hyperloop.
Yeah this is the danger. You know Uber will go for the meatiest best traveled routes, which will reduce uptake of normal public transport.
Re: (Score:2)
So tech bros invented trains and bus lines again? Good jorb.
But without the umpty-kajillion minor stops that make public bus commuting so miserable.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
It reminds me a bit of the "colectivos" I've seen in Chile. These are basically taxis that have to drive a specific route. They are operated by individuals. There is no fixed schedule, but you don't have to wait long for one to pass by.
Re: (Score:2)
collectivos run from patagonia all the way through Tijuana they're not limited to chile. most low income countries offer some kind of free market public tranist solution of some kind like collectivos
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Uber never invented anything. They just re-marketed taxi service, slapping an app on top of it.
It's not always necessary to "invent" something, to disrupt a market.
Re: (Score:2)
The critical differentiator is you get a rating as a passenger on Uber. Public transit in the U.S doesn't work that well because of the 5% most anti-social people on transit who are harassing people, drunk or high on meth or crack. They'd get banned from Uber, but it makes all the difference.
Re: (Score:1)
It doesn't work because it is slow, unreliable and nowhere near as convenient as point to point transfer, for a vast number of people.
Why spend 90 minutes trying to get somewhere by bus when I can get there in 20 minutes with my own vehicle? I mean, fuck that.
Re: (Score:2)
Will the drivers need an CDL for this? (Score:2)
Will the drivers need an CDL for this?
Regulation Dodgers (Score:3)
Of course not. They are guaranteed to pull the same stunt as they did when displacing the taxi service. Same service but no regulation for a bogus reason, like naming the service differently or downplaying use cases.
Re: (Score:2)
No, because these vehicles are not carrying 16 or more passengers, do not weigh more than 21000-and-mumble lbs, and are not carrying hazardous cargo (we hope).
That would be the case even if they were some other sort of transport, like a small hotel shuttle van, a livery car, or whatever else.
Uber Invents ... (Score:2)
... The bus!
But smaller, more expensive, and less fuel-efficient per passenger.
What a time to be alive.
But better in lots of ways (Score:2)
More comfortable
Less likely to see you mugged, assaulted or killed.
Cleaner
But mostly point to point, not stopping at every bus stop and using the most direct route.
Re: (Score:2)
Less likely to see you mugged, assaulted or killed.
So both are open to the public but only only one will ever see criminals use it? That sounds like a completely reasonable conclusion.
But mostly point to point, not stopping at every bus stop and using the most direct route.
Except if you bother to read the summary you find out it moves between designated stopping points exactly like a bus does. What you're talking about is Uber's regular service that already exists.
Re: (Score:2)
'So both are open to the public but only only one will ever see criminals use it?'
In order to use an uber, your identity has to be established from the credit card with which you pay. Whilst it is conceivable that a criminal would be organised to order an 'uber bus' in order to rob the other riders, this would be a lot of effort as well as requiring a stolen ID. Possible but FAR less likely than an ordinary attack on a bus.
'It moves between designated stopping points'
There is a bus from where I live into my
Re: (Score:2)
So basically it'll not be useful to as many people as a bus because it's lower capacity.
Well at least paying 5 times the cost for worse service will mean you won't have to hang around the poors as much
Re: (Score:1)
There is real value it not being around the "poors".
It's one of big reasons why people book Hilton instead Holiday Inn". Don't care about "extra service" just want to increase the odd if not being housed with people with undesirable behaviour. People pay more to shop at Target over Walmart for the same reason.
Re: (Score:2)
Less likely to see you mugged, assaulted or killed.
I've travelled in many 3rd world shitholes but being mugged assaulted or killed has never been a risk on a bus in any of them. Do we need to come up with a new term for just how much of a hellscape the USA is, or are you talking out of your arse?
But mostly point to point, not stopping at every bus stop and using the most direct route.
Except no, that's not what this is. It's a shuttle service. Shuttle services are exactly like busses just smaller. No direct route, and yes stopping at places on the way.
Re: (Score:1)
Loser Cruiser.
Re: (Score:2)
I don't know about you, but this sounds like an improvement to me!
Re-inventing the Jitney (Score:2)
Less efficient and more usurious than a bus.
So, like a bus but with cars (Score:4, Funny)
So, like a bus, but using cars? MIND-BENDING INNOVATION!!!!
Re: (Score:2)
Maybe someone will build a vacuum train (vactrain) that will run people at high speed in a near vacuum consuming immensely more power than a regular high speed train.
I'm sure someone will have something like an elite bus soon... one that they'll have to make sure the streets are super smooth or they won't be able to run.
Before you all say "that's a bus" (Score:1)
I see already it appears 99% of replies look to be along the lines of "that's already been done, it's a bus/train".
Well here's the difference - it can take a city YEARS to approve any route changes even as people move around and a city changes. In part that's because buses have a lot of infrastructure around stops, and requirements for drivers.
The ride share services already know if there are clusters of people that often go from one area to another on regular commuter schedules - so they can set the stops
Re: (Score:2)
I don't know what city you live in, but my mid-sized city of about a million people in Canada takes a few months to implement changes to its bus routes.
This is just going to continue the enshittification of cities by reducing transit ridership, which encourages politicians to reduce transit, which reduces ridership, etc. until your city is a car-dependent mess with a mostly useless transit system.
I wish my city would grow a spine and ban Uber and other ride-share companies. They are clearly violating t
In London Uber has killed taxis,not public transit (Score:2)
Traditional taxi drivers are very miserable. Though, to be fair, smaller cities probably are more vulnerable to Uber destroying bus services.
Re: (Score:2)
This is just going to continue the enshittification of cities by reducing transit ridership
Something like this is already happening with private buses. Microsoft, Google and others run their own plain white buses all over our greater metropolitan area, picking up only their own employees. Because nobody likes taking public transit and showing up for work smelling like fentanyl.
Re: (Score:2)
Is public transit in the US really that bad? I've taken it in my city in Canada (Ottawa) as well as Toronto and Montreal, and it was fine. And I've taken transit in New York City, Chicago, Atlanta and San Diego and again... it was fine. (In Atlanta and San Diego... fine in terms of safety, not convenience.) I never felt unsafe or grossed out or anything like that.
Metric system and public transport (Score:4, Funny)
Re: (Score:2)
Or admit that they could learn anything from other countries.
3rd World beat 'em to it..... (Score:3)
anyone ever rode in a Filipino jeepny or Turkish dolmus...?
eventually it will be robo (Score:2)
You can get Waymo car rides through Uber already in some cities. These shuttles will probably be automated over the next few years.
Luggage (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
In a properly-designed city, this isn't a problem. For example, I spent 10 days in The Netherlands recently. I got off the plane, grabbed my luggage, made my way through customs, and then down to the train station under the airport. Within a few minutes, I was on the train with my luggage stowed near me. 15-20 minutes later, got off at Amsterdam Centraal and walked a few hundred metres to the hotel.
In the city where I live (Ottawa, Ontario), you get on the train from the airport, which takes you a few
I'm no mathematician (Score:2)
Sharing with up to 2 others and you get between 15% and 50% off?
Uber just found a way to increase their revenue by somewhere between 150% and 250% (you do the math, thats my guess)
Terrible idea (Score:2)