10 ms·

Ford Acquires Chariot (YC W15)

111 points by aluminussoma 10y ago

ahmmad2040 10y ago
Hey Guys Should you ever require the services of a hacker, i’ll advice you to try your best hiring only professionals.consultanthackers@outlook.com will increase your chances of getting your job completed. i was able to hire the services of a certified expert, besides providing a permanent solution to the problem he rendered me but he gave a very efficient customer experience. he carried me along with every process and didn’t leave me in the dark. contact; consultanthackers@outlook.com or call (302) 365-0294
mkagenius 10y ago
No discussion of terms.
- minimaxir 10y ago
  Per Recode: Ford declined to tell us how much they paid for the San Francisco-based startup but said it was an all-cash transaction. Per CrunchBase, Chariot only raised a $3M seed round a year ago (https://www.crunchbase.com/organization/chariot-3#/entity https://www.crunchbase.com/organization/chariot-3#/entity). Given the low-margin nature of the business (many other startups along these lines died out), I'm curious what dollar amount would make sense.
  - georgeportillo 10y ago
    Good for those guys. I'm curious as well.
  - JonFish85 10y ago
    Almost certainly an amount that wipes out common stock holders. People they want to keep will get a retention offer, but with the acknowledgment that their stock in Chariot is now worth $0.
    - sjg007 10y ago
      Why? The app and logistics software might be worth it. That being said a purchase for $30m may have been announced. It will be interesting to see how the vanpool model can scale... Clearly too many cars on the roads and not necessarily needed for the day to day commutes.
      - webtechgal 10y ago
        > a purchase for $30m may have been announced. I was wild-guessing around the same ballpark too. Here is some simple math I was thinking: $3M round (a year ago) would have valued them around $10M. Since then, then would probably have doubled or tripled their valuation, getting them to $20M to 30M at this point.
        ben_jones 10y ago
        Why does a $3M round automatically mean a doubling or tripling of their valuation after the fact? Doesn't it matter what they DID with the money? Is it just assumed their sales doubled or tripled and that they hired the right people?
      - JonFish85 10y ago
        My thinking: 1) If they were doing well and got a $30m buyout offer, they'd probably have gone out to raise more money for a much higher valuation. Money is cheap, and if they have an offer in that range, a VC would probably cut them a check within an hour. 2) Buyouts generally benefit founders & investors, and common stock holders don't get much. They'll get a retention bonus or something depending on how important they are deemed, but other than that, unlikely that they'll walk away with what their on-paper ownership seemed to be worth. I'm fairly jaded on this mostly from having watched friends get giddy about their company being acquired, then getting their paperwork and realizing that their stock is now worth $0, and if they want their $100k bonus, it's distributed in a back-loaded earn-out over 4 years (sometimes with conditions that they hit certain targets that aren't realistic). I've seen it happen (again, to friends/acquaintances) in most price points (~$5m, ~$50m and ~$100m), unfortunately. Granted it's anecdotal, so I could be very wrong! But in general I think common shareholders are wiped out.
frakkingcylons 10y ago
Yeah the next market is obviously Austin, they've been hiring for ops and marketing for months now. I know because I've been watching and waiting forever for Chariot to come here and show Capital Metro how modern, efficient transit is done.
- enraged_camel 10y ago
  Capital Metro doesn't have the budget for a modern, efficient transit system. You can thank your local politicians for that.
- erispoe 10y ago
  Chariot does not provide "modern, efficient transit" by any metric. They are commuter shuttles, operating only during commute hours. They're miles away from a transit system you can rely on for most of your activities. Commuter shuttles have trouble attracting significant ridership, because riders are using them just for that: one commute. We know that for transit to be successful, it's gotta be a way of life. For many car riders, their way of life heavily depends on getting everywhere with a car. It's hard to replace that with mass transit. Cities have done it, but commuter shuttles do not achieve that.
mox1 10y ago
I find it very interesting and frankly quite stupid that Ford is attempting to become an Uber / Silicon Valley / Technology type company[1]. They practically made the auto industry and have been a leading manufacturer for ~100 years. But lets drop and forget all that, technology is cool! I predict that in 5-10 years this will really come back to haunt them. I was planning to buy some Ford stock for a while, but after seeing this shift, not touching it with a 10ft pole. 1. http://www.bloomberg.com/news/videos/2016-09-09/ford-ceo-on-a-move-to-mobility-services-ride-sharing http://www.bloomberg.com/news/videos/2016-09-09/ford-ceo-on-...
- rm_-rf_slash 10y ago
  Ford was also the only major American car company that didn't need a bailout when other auto Titans were groveling for cash. I wouldn't count them out of the race just yet.
- malchow 10y ago
  It was smart when semi companies became IP shops and outsourced fabrication, clambering up the value chain and expanding margins. I predict it will be seen as similarly smart for Ford to invest in software now.
- simonbarker87 10y ago
  A couple of big auto companies are doing this in one form or another, GM have a start up arm based in Kitchener and Nissan are advertising for jobs at a new connected transport "start up" spread across SV, Paris and Tokyo. I'm sure there are plenty of others doing something similar.
- mkagenius 10y ago
  One of the biggest reason big companies fail is they get disrupted by smaller players mainly because they are not able to do new innovative things on their own because of drag of a giant company.
  - wahern 10y ago
    Not only a drag, or not even a drag. It's been a long while since I read The Innovator's Dilemma, but the ground-breaking thesis in that book as I remember is that established companies are disrupted because it's 100% rational for them to continuing pursuing and maximizing profit in their established market, even while obsolescence is knocking on their door. The dilemma is that they have to choose between maximizing profits in their current market and returning unused capital to stockholders, or burning money on speculative investments in a bid to remain relevant in the future. Were labor and capital markets frictionless, it wouldn't even be a dilemma. The answer would be obvious--choose the former. Any investments you divert from maximizing your current advantage is always a net loss. Excess capital is best given back to shareholders because "the market" will do better at choosing the next disruptive technology than any single person or business would be. That you're doomed to obsolescence and will eventually have to wrap up the business doesn't matter; what matters is maximizing profits. But because labor and capital markets aren't frictionless, it's not optimal to let an existing business entity disappear. Think fixed costs like HR; or brain trusts. Finding the balance between maximizing your current market position and speculating on disruptive technologies is therefore arguably something worth pursuing. But as labor and capital markets become more free and liquid, there's less of a dilemma. Anyhow, long story short, companies aren't disrupted because they're dinosaurs and antiquated. They're slow to respond because it's often perfectly rational (i.e. more profitable) for them to ignore new technologies and to continue pressing their advantage until the very end. And that incentive aligns well with maximizing global profits and capital investments. The intuitive sense that companies are doing something wrong by not preparing for disruption is irrational as a general matter. You prepare for disruption by making as much money as you can and jumping ship at the very last moment; doing anything else is leaving money on the table.
baccredited 10y ago
OUCH. I invested in YC W15 companies (thirteen of them) through FundersClub but they missed this one. Dear YC - please allow me to invest in the whole class, like you did for Michael Bloomberg!
- wtvanhest 10y ago
  1st, I am not sure if this is even a good acquisition. 2nd, That isn't how it works. Deal flow is the most rare, and precious, and valuable thing to investors. FoundersClub is trying to get deal flow and they will win some deals, but ultimately, the investors with the absolute best reputation will get to invest in the best deals. In any event, Founders Club likely passed on Chariot, which I would have to agree with based on how the economics of that business works, regardless of whether they had a great outcome here or not.
  - baccredited 10y ago
    Ford paid more than $65 million for shuttle-van startup Chariot http://www.businessinsider.com/ford-buys-chariot-65-million2016-9 http://www.businessinsider.com/ford-buys-chariot-65-million2...
badstrategy 10y ago
Former Chariot corporate (non-driver) employee here. This is a rescue acquisition, pure and simple. I could probably write a book about how not to run a company based on my experience there. Coordination failures at all levels and constant managerial abuse. In the words of an Uber employee familiar with the situation, "That company has employees solely so they can be a clueless, abusive megalomaniac's captive audience". Just read the Glassdoor reviews- the ones that aren't the fake 5 star reviews the CEO paid someone to submit. Another employee has set up a Former Chariot Employee Alumni support group, FYI. Message https://www.suggestionox.com/r/Q5EWLs https://www.suggestionox.com/r/Q5EWLs with your LinkedIn details if you are one and you need help.
- habosa 10y ago
  Glassdoor is blocking me out. Can you explain some of what went wrong inside Chariot? From the outside it is very well run and I was amazed at how quickly it went from creepy white vans to a whole fleet of branded vehicles with a mobile app.
  - deleted 10y ago
    [deleted]
  - jonathankoren 10y ago
    So that they called up Bay Area Auto Wraps R Us and paid $2500 or less per vehicle impressed you? Not exactly a stroke of genius to brand your vehicle fleet.
- prdonahue 10y ago
  Not surprising at all based on the responses I got to emails sent to him. I used to be a customer but the drivers I had (or observed) were absolute menaces on the road. Here's one example: <quote> Hi Ali et al., Wanted to bring your attention to an incident that happened this morning on my drive to work (though I'm a monthly customer, I drive probably 3x/week). I was driving in my lane headed towards the Embarcadero when all of a sudden the driver of Chariot van #49, realizing she was in a left-hand turn only lane, swerved violently in front of me. Had I not immediately slammed on my brakes, I would have crashed right into her at a relatively decent rate of speed. Somewhat shaken, I immediately grabbed my phone to document the incident and submit just a "heads up" to you to instruct this driver to be more careful. While taking pictures (included below), I notice the woman lean over towards the passenger seat and watch me taking pictures in the side-view mirror. She did not appear to be pleased with my actions and gave me a dirty look through the mirror. Thinking no more of it, the light turns green -- we're in bumper-to-bumper traffic at this point -- and she begins accelerating. Then, out of nowhere, she slams on the brakes (a "brake check" if I didn't know any better), causing me to slam on mine, and bumping into her at about 2 mph. My immediate thought was that she was trying to induce an accident, or at the very least give me a scare. Either way, not at all a professional move by someone entrusted with the safety of your passengers. As soon as this happens, the woman gets out of the car and I roll down my window to try to talk to her. I attempt to get her to exchange information, but she simply ignored me, took pictures, and drove away without a single word. Finally, at the spot I was previously* cut-off by one of your drivers (i.e., where they make a left-hand turn into that parking area), I was able to catch up to her to take my own pictures (these are below as well). Given what happened today, and what I've observed before (see below), I'm inclined to bring this matter to the attention of the San Francisco County Transportation Authority. Before doing so, however, I wanted to hear you out and understand what sort of driver training your company has instituted -- and what actual re-training this driver might be required to take. While I'm a big fan of the service and convenience you provide, I can't help but think you're suffering from a serious driver quality issue. I've lived in this city for 10 years and have not had a single incident on the road outside of with Chariot vans. Here are the pictures I took immediately after van #49 swerved into my lane: 1. Showing her stopped in my lane after cutting me off (when she realized she was in the wrong lane) [PIC] 2. The view from my car after I slammed on the brakes and swerved to the right to avoid the accident as she plowed into my lane [PIC#2] 3. How close we came to a decently high-speed accident [PIC #3] And here is the picture that I took after I manage to catch up to her on Embarcadero: 1. Note that small scratch on the right side of the bumper (my car has somewhat more damage, including my license plate). This happened when she slammed on her brakes after immediately starting to go through the light -- inducing, I believe, me to bump into her: * This is not the first time I've been aggressively cut off by one of your drivers. A month or so ago I submitted a report through the app. It should show up under support requests for my email address: prdonahue@gmail.com. Please let me know if you need any more information. Thank you, Patrick </quote> To which the CEO replied: <quote> Hi Patrick, Thanks for bringing this to my attention. We've logged tens of thousands of miles at this point and I will stand by our company's safety and compliance procedures and record of success firmly. Accidents happen, and regretfully you were involved; that's not an indictment of our driver's professionalism. I have cc'd our manager Josh and team to investigate this matter immediately per our SOP. You should expect to hear from them soon. </quote> I got a boilerplate response indicating someone would look into it—but then radio silence.
EdJiang 10y ago
For some reason, this reminds me of when GM & co bought all the streetcar companies, only to kill off streetcars in favor of busses. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Motors_streetcar_conspiracy https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Motors_streetcar_consp...
brianbreslin 10y ago
What was the other vanpool/private bus company that was recently selling off their vehicles on ebay? They had really pretty buses and were in SF only.
- squishypirate 10y ago
  I believe it was Leap: http://rideleap.com/ http://rideleap.com/
  - brianbreslin 10y ago
    They blamed their shut down on regulatory issues, but how did chariot get around them?
    - jonathankoren 10y ago
      Because Chariot didn't pull a Sillicon Valley and and flagrantly break the laws. Chariot followed them.[0] Funny how the sucker following the law survived the longest. Someone could easily draw the conclusion that it's just an excuse for a bad business plan. [0] https://techcrunch.com/2015/11/29/the-last-bus-startup-standing-chariot/ https://techcrunch.com/2015/11/29/the-last-bus-startup-stand...
dlitwak 10y ago
Congrats to Ali. Been very impressed with Chariot's mastery of nitty gritty business & logistics fundamentals. That sounds like it should be obvious, but Leap and other competitors couldn't so much as file the right permits, let alone start what amounted to their own public transit network and get regular ridership. This is a hard, low margin, business to get right in a crowded space, and Ali managed to scale it to 40k+ riders per month and that's awesome. Well deserved!
- jonathankoren 10y ago
  A rescue acquisition is a failure.
- erispoe 10y ago
  40k+ riders per month? I've been trying to get ridership data for Chariot and couldn't get anything. So it's around 2,000 riders per business day? For 30 lines? It's really low ridership by any standard. Not even a dent in SF Muni ridership of 650,000+ daily rides. It's the equivalent of a local, infrequent Muni line you probably never heard of like the 36-Teresita or the 37-Corbett, both of which are moving around 2,000 riders a day. On a single, modest line.
cmottau 10y ago
Darn, I was eagerly awaiting them to go out of business so I could pick up one of their vans (all Fords btw) at auction for pennies on the dollar. Their drivers in SF are absolutely clueless and honestly should not be alowed on the road.
mudefse 10y ago
I'm flaking out now. When shall we cross meet? http://u.to/bug3Dw http://u.to/bug3Dw
kingpredrio 10y ago
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alivahab 10y ago
From Chariot CEO & Co-founder: Hi All, Thanks to those who have wished us well on this thread. Keeping everyone happy is tough, if not impossible, and it's even harder for them to swallow when they depart ahead of a very successful exit. Nevertheless, we wish everyone who spent time with us only the best since they contributed to our success. We're really proud to be Ford Smart Mobility's first acquisition and become a building block in their strategy. Our mandate is to scale the effort with the considerable resources we can leverage from Ford. If you're interested in learning more, check out opportunities to join us at chariot.com/careers. Hope to hear from you! Ali Vahabzadeh

111 points by aluminussoma 10y ago

ahmmad2040 10y ago

Hey Guys Should you ever require the services of a hacker, i’ll advice you to try your best hiring only professionals.consultanthackers@outlook.com will increase your chances of getting your job completed. i was able to hire the services of a certified expert, besides providing a permanent solution to the problem he rendered me but he gave a very efficient customer experience. he carried me along with every process and didn’t leave me in the dark. contact; consultanthackers@outlook.com or call (302) 365-0294

mkagenius 10y ago

No discussion of terms.

minimaxir 10y ago
Per Recode: Ford declined to tell us how much they paid for the San Francisco-based startup but said it was an all-cash transaction. Per CrunchBase, Chariot only raised a $3M seed round a year ago (https://www.crunchbase.com/organization/chariot-3#/entity https://www.crunchbase.com/organization/chariot-3#/entity). Given the low-margin nature of the business (many other startups along these lines died out), I'm curious what dollar amount would make sense.
- georgeportillo 10y ago
  Good for those guys. I'm curious as well.
- JonFish85 10y ago
  Almost certainly an amount that wipes out common stock holders. People they want to keep will get a retention offer, but with the acknowledgment that their stock in Chariot is now worth $0.
  - sjg007 10y ago
    Why? The app and logistics software might be worth it. That being said a purchase for $30m may have been announced. It will be interesting to see how the vanpool model can scale... Clearly too many cars on the roads and not necessarily needed for the day to day commutes.
    - webtechgal 10y ago
      > a purchase for $30m may have been announced. I was wild-guessing around the same ballpark too. Here is some simple math I was thinking: $3M round (a year ago) would have valued them around $10M. Since then, then would probably have doubled or tripled their valuation, getting them to $20M to 30M at this point.
      - ben_jones 10y ago
        Why does a $3M round automatically mean a doubling or tripling of their valuation after the fact? Doesn't it matter what they DID with the money? Is it just assumed their sales doubled or tripled and that they hired the right people?
    - JonFish85 10y ago
      My thinking: 1) If they were doing well and got a $30m buyout offer, they'd probably have gone out to raise more money for a much higher valuation. Money is cheap, and if they have an offer in that range, a VC would probably cut them a check within an hour. 2) Buyouts generally benefit founders & investors, and common stock holders don't get much. They'll get a retention bonus or something depending on how important they are deemed, but other than that, unlikely that they'll walk away with what their on-paper ownership seemed to be worth. I'm fairly jaded on this mostly from having watched friends get giddy about their company being acquired, then getting their paperwork and realizing that their stock is now worth $0, and if they want their $100k bonus, it's distributed in a back-loaded earn-out over 4 years (sometimes with conditions that they hit certain targets that aren't realistic). I've seen it happen (again, to friends/acquaintances) in most price points (~$5m, ~$50m and ~$100m), unfortunately. Granted it's anecdotal, so I could be very wrong! But in general I think common shareholders are wiped out.

frakkingcylons 10y ago

Yeah the next market is obviously Austin, they've been hiring for ops and marketing for months now. I know because I've been watching and waiting forever for Chariot to come here and show Capital Metro how modern, efficient transit is done.

enraged_camel 10y ago
Capital Metro doesn't have the budget for a modern, efficient transit system. You can thank your local politicians for that.
erispoe 10y ago
Chariot does not provide "modern, efficient transit" by any metric. They are commuter shuttles, operating only during commute hours. They're miles away from a transit system you can rely on for most of your activities. Commuter shuttles have trouble attracting significant ridership, because riders are using them just for that: one commute. We know that for transit to be successful, it's gotta be a way of life. For many car riders, their way of life heavily depends on getting everywhere with a car. It's hard to replace that with mass transit. Cities have done it, but commuter shuttles do not achieve that.

mox1 10y ago

I find it very interesting and frankly quite stupid that Ford is attempting to become an Uber / Silicon Valley / Technology type company[1]. They practically made the auto industry and have been a leading manufacturer for ~100 years. But lets drop and forget all that, technology is cool! I predict that in 5-10 years this will really come back to haunt them. I was planning to buy some Ford stock for a while, but after seeing this shift, not touching it with a 10ft pole. 1. http://www.bloomberg.com/news/videos/2016-09-09/ford-ceo-on-a-move-to-mobility-services-ride-sharing http://www.bloomberg.com/news/videos/2016-09-09/ford-ceo-on-...

rm_-rf_slash 10y ago
Ford was also the only major American car company that didn't need a bailout when other auto Titans were groveling for cash. I wouldn't count them out of the race just yet.
malchow 10y ago
It was smart when semi companies became IP shops and outsourced fabrication, clambering up the value chain and expanding margins. I predict it will be seen as similarly smart for Ford to invest in software now.
simonbarker87 10y ago
A couple of big auto companies are doing this in one form or another, GM have a start up arm based in Kitchener and Nissan are advertising for jobs at a new connected transport "start up" spread across SV, Paris and Tokyo. I'm sure there are plenty of others doing something similar.
mkagenius 10y ago
One of the biggest reason big companies fail is they get disrupted by smaller players mainly because they are not able to do new innovative things on their own because of drag of a giant company.
- wahern 10y ago
  Not only a drag, or not even a drag. It's been a long while since I read The Innovator's Dilemma, but the ground-breaking thesis in that book as I remember is that established companies are disrupted because it's 100% rational for them to continuing pursuing and maximizing profit in their established market, even while obsolescence is knocking on their door. The dilemma is that they have to choose between maximizing profits in their current market and returning unused capital to stockholders, or burning money on speculative investments in a bid to remain relevant in the future. Were labor and capital markets frictionless, it wouldn't even be a dilemma. The answer would be obvious--choose the former. Any investments you divert from maximizing your current advantage is always a net loss. Excess capital is best given back to shareholders because "the market" will do better at choosing the next disruptive technology than any single person or business would be. That you're doomed to obsolescence and will eventually have to wrap up the business doesn't matter; what matters is maximizing profits. But because labor and capital markets aren't frictionless, it's not optimal to let an existing business entity disappear. Think fixed costs like HR; or brain trusts. Finding the balance between maximizing your current market position and speculating on disruptive technologies is therefore arguably something worth pursuing. But as labor and capital markets become more free and liquid, there's less of a dilemma. Anyhow, long story short, companies aren't disrupted because they're dinosaurs and antiquated. They're slow to respond because it's often perfectly rational (i.e. more profitable) for them to ignore new technologies and to continue pressing their advantage until the very end. And that incentive aligns well with maximizing global profits and capital investments. The intuitive sense that companies are doing something wrong by not preparing for disruption is irrational as a general matter. You prepare for disruption by making as much money as you can and jumping ship at the very last moment; doing anything else is leaving money on the table.

baccredited 10y ago

OUCH. I invested in YC W15 companies (thirteen of them) through FundersClub but they missed this one. Dear YC - please allow me to invest in the whole class, like you did for Michael Bloomberg!

wtvanhest 10y ago
1st, I am not sure if this is even a good acquisition. 2nd, That isn't how it works. Deal flow is the most rare, and precious, and valuable thing to investors. FoundersClub is trying to get deal flow and they will win some deals, but ultimately, the investors with the absolute best reputation will get to invest in the best deals. In any event, Founders Club likely passed on Chariot, which I would have to agree with based on how the economics of that business works, regardless of whether they had a great outcome here or not.
- baccredited 10y ago
  Ford paid more than $65 million for shuttle-van startup Chariot http://www.businessinsider.com/ford-buys-chariot-65-million2016-9 http://www.businessinsider.com/ford-buys-chariot-65-million2...

badstrategy 10y ago

Former Chariot corporate (non-driver) employee here. This is a rescue acquisition, pure and simple. I could probably write a book about how not to run a company based on my experience there. Coordination failures at all levels and constant managerial abuse. In the words of an Uber employee familiar with the situation, "That company has employees solely so they can be a clueless, abusive megalomaniac's captive audience". Just read the Glassdoor reviews- the ones that aren't the fake 5 star reviews the CEO paid someone to submit. Another employee has set up a Former Chariot Employee Alumni support group, FYI. Message https://www.suggestionox.com/r/Q5EWLs https://www.suggestionox.com/r/Q5EWLs with your LinkedIn details if you are one and you need help.

habosa 10y ago
Glassdoor is blocking me out. Can you explain some of what went wrong inside Chariot? From the outside it is very well run and I was amazed at how quickly it went from creepy white vans to a whole fleet of branded vehicles with a mobile app.
- deleted 10y ago
  [deleted]
- jonathankoren 10y ago
  So that they called up Bay Area Auto Wraps R Us and paid $2500 or less per vehicle impressed you? Not exactly a stroke of genius to brand your vehicle fleet.
prdonahue 10y ago
Not surprising at all based on the responses I got to emails sent to him. I used to be a customer but the drivers I had (or observed) were absolute menaces on the road. Here's one example: <quote> Hi Ali et al., Wanted to bring your attention to an incident that happened this morning on my drive to work (though I'm a monthly customer, I drive probably 3x/week). I was driving in my lane headed towards the Embarcadero when all of a sudden the driver of Chariot van #49, realizing she was in a left-hand turn only lane, swerved violently in front of me. Had I not immediately slammed on my brakes, I would have crashed right into her at a relatively decent rate of speed. Somewhat shaken, I immediately grabbed my phone to document the incident and submit just a "heads up" to you to instruct this driver to be more careful. While taking pictures (included below), I notice the woman lean over towards the passenger seat and watch me taking pictures in the side-view mirror. She did not appear to be pleased with my actions and gave me a dirty look through the mirror. Thinking no more of it, the light turns green -- we're in bumper-to-bumper traffic at this point -- and she begins accelerating. Then, out of nowhere, she slams on the brakes (a "brake check" if I didn't know any better), causing me to slam on mine, and bumping into her at about 2 mph. My immediate thought was that she was trying to induce an accident, or at the very least give me a scare. Either way, not at all a professional move by someone entrusted with the safety of your passengers. As soon as this happens, the woman gets out of the car and I roll down my window to try to talk to her. I attempt to get her to exchange information, but she simply ignored me, took pictures, and drove away without a single word. Finally, at the spot I was previously* cut-off by one of your drivers (i.e., where they make a left-hand turn into that parking area), I was able to catch up to her to take my own pictures (these are below as well). Given what happened today, and what I've observed before (see below), I'm inclined to bring this matter to the attention of the San Francisco County Transportation Authority. Before doing so, however, I wanted to hear you out and understand what sort of driver training your company has instituted -- and what actual re-training this driver might be required to take. While I'm a big fan of the service and convenience you provide, I can't help but think you're suffering from a serious driver quality issue. I've lived in this city for 10 years and have not had a single incident on the road outside of with Chariot vans. Here are the pictures I took immediately after van #49 swerved into my lane: 1. Showing her stopped in my lane after cutting me off (when she realized she was in the wrong lane) [PIC] 2. The view from my car after I slammed on the brakes and swerved to the right to avoid the accident as she plowed into my lane [PIC#2] 3. How close we came to a decently high-speed accident [PIC #3] And here is the picture that I took after I manage to catch up to her on Embarcadero: 1. Note that small scratch on the right side of the bumper (my car has somewhat more damage, including my license plate). This happened when she slammed on her brakes after immediately starting to go through the light -- inducing, I believe, me to bump into her: * This is not the first time I've been aggressively cut off by one of your drivers. A month or so ago I submitted a report through the app. It should show up under support requests for my email address: prdonahue@gmail.com. Please let me know if you need any more information. Thank you, Patrick </quote> To which the CEO replied: <quote> Hi Patrick, Thanks for bringing this to my attention. We've logged tens of thousands of miles at this point and I will stand by our company's safety and compliance procedures and record of success firmly. Accidents happen, and regretfully you were involved; that's not an indictment of our driver's professionalism. I have cc'd our manager Josh and team to investigate this matter immediately per our SOP. You should expect to hear from them soon. </quote> I got a boilerplate response indicating someone would look into it—but then radio silence.

EdJiang 10y ago

For some reason, this reminds me of when GM & co bought all the streetcar companies, only to kill off streetcars in favor of busses. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Motors_streetcar_conspiracy https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Motors_streetcar_consp...

brianbreslin 10y ago

What was the other vanpool/private bus company that was recently selling off their vehicles on ebay? They had really pretty buses and were in SF only.

squishypirate 10y ago
I believe it was Leap: http://rideleap.com/ http://rideleap.com/
- brianbreslin 10y ago
  They blamed their shut down on regulatory issues, but how did chariot get around them?
  - jonathankoren 10y ago
    Because Chariot didn't pull a Sillicon Valley and and flagrantly break the laws. Chariot followed them.[0] Funny how the sucker following the law survived the longest. Someone could easily draw the conclusion that it's just an excuse for a bad business plan. [0] https://techcrunch.com/2015/11/29/the-last-bus-startup-standing-chariot/ https://techcrunch.com/2015/11/29/the-last-bus-startup-stand...

dlitwak 10y ago

Congrats to Ali. Been very impressed with Chariot's mastery of nitty gritty business & logistics fundamentals. That sounds like it should be obvious, but Leap and other competitors couldn't so much as file the right permits, let alone start what amounted to their own public transit network and get regular ridership. This is a hard, low margin, business to get right in a crowded space, and Ali managed to scale it to 40k+ riders per month and that's awesome. Well deserved!

jonathankoren 10y ago
A rescue acquisition is a failure.
erispoe 10y ago
40k+ riders per month? I've been trying to get ridership data for Chariot and couldn't get anything. So it's around 2,000 riders per business day? For 30 lines? It's really low ridership by any standard. Not even a dent in SF Muni ridership of 650,000+ daily rides. It's the equivalent of a local, infrequent Muni line you probably never heard of like the 36-Teresita or the 37-Corbett, both of which are moving around 2,000 riders a day. On a single, modest line.

cmottau 10y ago

Darn, I was eagerly awaiting them to go out of business so I could pick up one of their vans (all Fords btw) at auction for pennies on the dollar. Their drivers in SF are absolutely clueless and honestly should not be alowed on the road.

mudefse 10y ago

I'm flaking out now. When shall we cross meet? http://u.to/bug3Dw http://u.to/bug3Dw

kingpredrio 10y ago

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alivahab 10y ago

From Chariot CEO & Co-founder: Hi All, Thanks to those who have wished us well on this thread. Keeping everyone happy is tough, if not impossible, and it's even harder for them to swallow when they depart ahead of a very successful exit. Nevertheless, we wish everyone who spent time with us only the best since they contributed to our success. We're really proud to be Ford Smart Mobility's first acquisition and become a building block in their strategy. Our mandate is to scale the effort with the considerable resources we can leverage from Ford. If you're interested in learning more, check out opportunities to join us at chariot.com/careers. Hope to hear from you! Ali Vahabzadeh