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It seems like they did fail to really analyse the potential in the Boston market. I live in Southern New Hampshire and like nearly everyone that doesn't hold a

by vabmit 9y ago

It seems like they did fail to really analyse the potential in the Boston market. I live in Southern New Hampshire and like nearly everyone that doesn't hold a minimum wage job here, I work in Boston and commute into the city every day (because the New Hampshire corporate tax system is terrible). The commute is an absolutely miserable experience. I used to drive but finally gave it up when my employer changed the way they compensated commuting expenses. Now, I take Boston Express Bus which costs me $315/month. The buses are always over full. There's probably about $100K per month for the Bus Company just in work day commuters. They also do a large number of air port runs through out the day. The problem with the buses is they go to a train/subway/bus station on the south side of the city. But, many (if not most) of the commuters work on the north side of the city. So, they have to buy an additional $65/month subway card and waste an additional 45-75 minutes a day travelling through the congested city to get to and from the buses. Using the subway system in Boston is even more miserable than driving because it is horribly managed and badly maintained. Most riders would love to avoid it. Instead of doing local uber-like shuttles in a city already over served by subway and bus routes that compete with each other (in additional to taxis, uber, employer shuttles, etc), Bridj could have charged $350-$500 per month per person to do a run from southern NH with a Kendall Square drop off and pick up. People would have loved it. Similar routes could have been set up from the South and and West. I think they easily could have done $300,000 to $600,000 per month in revenue with that model. It's a shame they didn't take a good look at the market. The roads in and out of Boston are hopelessly overloaded. They could have made a ton of money and improved people's quality of life significantly. I assume many other large cites (SF, LA, NYC) are the same. Employers locate in the large cities and don't pay their employees enough to live in the cities. That is a problem calling out for a business like Bridj to address.

deleted 9y ago
[deleted]
inthewoods 9y ago
"I used to drive but finally gave it up when my employer changed the way they compensated commuting expenses. Now, I take Boston Express Bus which costs me $315/month. The buses are always over full. There's probably about $100K per month for the Bus Company just in work day commuters." Most buses hold about, what, 80 people - 80 x $315/month = $25k. How did you get to $100k? It looks to me like a tough business from a capital perspective - if each bus costs your $300-500k (or you lease them), you'd have them utilized for only 4 hours per day.
- vabmit 9y ago
  The buses that they are currently using hold just over 50 people. I made a very conservative guess for how many people would leave the existing bus service. There are more than 10 bus trips each morning down Interstate 93 that could be considered "commuter" (400-500 people): http://bostonexpressbus.com/images/stories/schedules/I93.pdf http://bostonexpressbus.com/images/stories/schedules/I93.pdf There are similar bus schedules from the next city over to the west, Nashua, down Route 3 and another similar schedule from the next city over to the east, Portsmouth. There are additional bus companies that service different cities and towns in Massachusetts. However, they all go to the bus station on the south side of the city. You would have to lease the buses. The drivers would be the most expensive part of the model, though. There is a shortage of people with commercial licences in this area. The drivers can make anywhere from $45K-$60K per year in salary (not counting benefits). Brijd had already purchased shuttles/buses and had drivers. The Brijd buses were much smaller - probably 25 to 30 seats. But, had they discovered the potential business model early enough they could have bought different vehicles. There is enough demand in the area to deploy double decker buses (80-100 seats). I, and probably many others, would pay a significant premium over the existing $315/month to load/unload on the north side of the city and avoid the additional hour of commute and MBTA subway pass costs. It would be much more difficult that a cloud based software start-up due to the capital outlays. But, it could definitely be done and be profitable.
  - xapata 9y ago
    Yeah, but that's just a bus company. To be a high-growth startup, you need something scalable. Like Megabus... Oh. BTW, I'll bet if you can get in touch with someone from Megabus they'd set up that route. In other cities they drop off in all sorts of random places. It might be some licensing or regulation issue.

by vabmit 9y ago

deleted 9y ago

[deleted]

inthewoods 9y ago

"I used to drive but finally gave it up when my employer changed the way they compensated commuting expenses. Now, I take Boston Express Bus which costs me $315/month. The buses are always over full. There's probably about $100K per month for the Bus Company just in work day commuters." Most buses hold about, what, 80 people - 80 x $315/month = $25k. How did you get to $100k? It looks to me like a tough business from a capital perspective - if each bus costs your $300-500k (or you lease them), you'd have them utilized for only 4 hours per day.

vabmit 9y ago
The buses that they are currently using hold just over 50 people. I made a very conservative guess for how many people would leave the existing bus service. There are more than 10 bus trips each morning down Interstate 93 that could be considered "commuter" (400-500 people): http://bostonexpressbus.com/images/stories/schedules/I93.pdf http://bostonexpressbus.com/images/stories/schedules/I93.pdf There are similar bus schedules from the next city over to the west, Nashua, down Route 3 and another similar schedule from the next city over to the east, Portsmouth. There are additional bus companies that service different cities and towns in Massachusetts. However, they all go to the bus station on the south side of the city. You would have to lease the buses. The drivers would be the most expensive part of the model, though. There is a shortage of people with commercial licences in this area. The drivers can make anywhere from $45K-$60K per year in salary (not counting benefits). Brijd had already purchased shuttles/buses and had drivers. The Brijd buses were much smaller - probably 25 to 30 seats. But, had they discovered the potential business model early enough they could have bought different vehicles. There is enough demand in the area to deploy double decker buses (80-100 seats). I, and probably many others, would pay a significant premium over the existing $315/month to load/unload on the north side of the city and avoid the additional hour of commute and MBTA subway pass costs. It would be much more difficult that a cloud based software start-up due to the capital outlays. But, it could definitely be done and be profitable.
- xapata 9y ago
  Yeah, but that's just a bus company. To be a high-growth startup, you need something scalable. Like Megabus... Oh. BTW, I'll bet if you can get in touch with someone from Megabus they'd set up that route. In other cities they drop off in all sorts of random places. It might be some licensing or regulation issue.