4 ms·
When I heard Uber was getting into Transit I imagined something more disruptive than just aggregation of different transportation types. Consider: Public bus s
by deanCommie 8y ago
When I heard Uber was getting into Transit I imagined something more disruptive than just aggregation of different transportation types.
Consider: Public bus systems are constrained to fixed schedules and stops for obvious reasons.
Neither apply in a Mobile App.
Uber could sign up drivers who own mini-vans or large buses, and dynamically generate "bus routes" using on key waypoints, and both ongoing and forecasted demand (based on historical data).
As a consumer, the experience is still
1) Pick a destination
2) Go to the spot where Uber asks you to go (Which already happens in places like Airports, or if you use Uber Pool which asks you to move a little closer to the route to decrease driving time
3) Get in the uber
4) Get off at a spot when the app/driver tells you which isn't exactly at your destination but close
All for a much much lower price
Meanwhile, as a driver, the experience is:
1) Follow the Uber app's navigation that tells you where your next 'Stop' is.
2) Drive around in a circle that changes throughout the day.
It's a hard problem to solve and get perfect but it would actually justify improving an existing public service.
- masonic 8y agoThis sounds a lot like the Dial-A-Ride concept that Santa Clara county Transit tried in the 1970s.
- uber-employee 8y agoUber is already doing buses in LatAm and MENA. Most North American cities (except NYC really) just don’t have the density to make the unit economics work for a marketplace with buses. Also, Express POOL (shared ride with walking in order to make the trip more efficient) is already dirt cheap.