One day not long ago, an Uber driver picked up a passenger in San Francisco’s gritty Tenderloin district. Let’s call our passenger Abby, because her real name has been lost to database anonymization, an effort to keep her identity private.
Abby needed to go to Noe Valley, a 25-minute drive that might ordinarily have cost about $15. But she had chosen UberPool, the ride-hailing company’s 18-month-old car-pooling program. In the process she had unwittingly initiated one of the service’s more epic recent trips.
Unlike a standard Uber ride, in which a single rider starts a one-time trip, UberPool works like a party line for cars. Travis Kalanick, Uber’s co-founder and chief executive, describes it as the future of his company — and thus the future of transportation in America.
Call up the app, specify your destination, and in exchange for a significant discount, UberPool matches you with other riders going the same way. The service might create a ride just for you, but just as often, it puts you in a ride that began long ago — one that has spanned several drop-offs and pickups, a kind of instant bus line created from collective urban demand.
The trip Abby started would last nearly an hour and meander over 10 miles across San Francisco, stopping nine times to pick up and drop off passengers. After Abby got in, the driver collected his second passenger — let’s call him Ben — a few blocks away. Ben got out after about a mile. A couple of blocks later, Carrie got in. By this time Abby might have been getting annoyed; fortunately, about six minutes later, the car reached Noe Valley. Abby got out, but Carrie was still in the car, so the trip went on. Danny got in after about a mile, then Carrie got out, then Edward got in, then Danny got out. Finally, after about 55 minutes of driving, the car reached Edward’s destination, and the trip was done.
In total, Uber collected about $48 for the ride, of which the driver kept $35. The company had collapsed five separate rides into a single trip, saving about six miles of travel and removing several cars from the road. For riders, the discounts amounted to savings of at least half of a standard Uber trip. For the driver, an hourlong trip with no idle time resulted in steady earnings (Uber drivers make money only when riders are in the car). And though Uber made less from the single ride than it would have from multiple rides, the company benefited by installing itself as a fixture in people’s lives.
“When rides get cheaper, it means that for more people in more cities, Uber is cheaper than owning a car,” Mr. Kalanick said in a recent interview. “And when Uber is cheaper than owning a car, we can become a mainstay of transportation in that city.”
Learn more: Car-Pooling Helps Uber Go the Extra Mile
The Latest on: Urban Transportation
[google_news title=”” keyword=”Urban Transportation” num_posts=”10″ blurb_length=”0″ show_thumb=”left”]
via Google News
The Latest on: Urban Transportation
- A clash of priorities in Minnesota’s transportation policyon May 13, 2024 at 8:24 am
Expanding the state’s highway network while cutting greenhouse gas emissions won’t be easy, as a recent task force report shows.
- Urban Prospector Finds Treasure in the Most Unlikely St. Louis Placeson May 13, 2024 at 4:00 am
He shared how he got started, the most valuable item he’s ever found and what he’s learned through years of searching for treasure in overlooked places. This conversation has been edited for length ...
- Sarawak transport minister: Kuching Urban Transportation System Phase 1, 20pc completedon May 13, 2024 at 2:56 am
Sarawak Transport Minister Datuk Lee Kim Shin today said that the Kuching Urban Transportation System (KUTS) Phase 1, with particular emphasis on ...
- Excitement as Plateau reintroduces Tin City metro urban transporton May 11, 2024 at 10:31 pm
APART from the hardship occasioned by the removal of petroleum subsidies, its reverberating effects can be felt in all spheres of life. One of the areas seriously affected is the cost of ...
- Desperate for freeway funds, transportation commission mulls all bad optionson May 10, 2024 at 2:33 pm
Because the State of Oregon has routinely over-committed to building freeway expansion megaprojects without the means to pay for them, its transportation department now finds itself with only bad ...
- Changes to the city’s Corridor Program raise ‘serious transparency concerns’ for transportation commissionerson May 9, 2024 at 10:03 pm
A massive shortfall in the city’s Corridor Program has caused work to be paused or cut back in some areas of the city. At their most recent meeting, Urban Transportation commissioners questioned the ...
- Urban transport industry news round-upon May 7, 2024 at 10:00 pm
Show Fullscreen Managing Director of Blackpool Transport Jane Cole has joined the UK’s Light Rail Safety & Standards Board as a non-executive director. Colin Kerr will continue to serve on the LRSSB ...
- Pioneering Sustainable Urban Growth: Intelligent City's Blueprint For The Future Cityon May 7, 2024 at 2:00 pm
Intelligent City is revolutionizing urban development combining advanced manufacturing, robotics and software for sustainable, efficient construction, setting the standard for future cities.
- Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies Committeeon May 1, 2024 at 5:00 pm
Appropriations: Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies. Hearings to examine proposed budget estimates and justification for fiscal year ...
- Revolutionizing Transportation: A Glimpse into the Futureon May 1, 2024 at 9:52 am
The transportation industry stands on the cusp of a revolution. The integration of cutting-edge technology is reshaping the way we perceive and utilize transportation systems. From autonomous vehicles ...
via Bing News