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Uber Express Pool offers the cheapest fares yet in exchange for a little walking

Uber Express Pool offers the cheapest fares yet in exchange ...
thirsty sanctuary
  02/21/18
cant wait til a bunch of libs have to walk thru anacostia
walnut mind-boggling new version
  02/21/18
This is how public minibuses already work in a lot of turd w...
Disgusting stock car generalized bond
  02/21/18
...
adventurous juggernaut
  02/21/18
Silicon Valley never not disrupting!
Slippery stead love of her life
  02/21/18
Yeah, but ubers have mints and charging cables.
amethyst forum
  02/21/18
diff with uber is that your pickup loc is a fe wblocks from ...
thirsty sanctuary
  02/21/18
The types of minibuses I'm talking about run all over the pl...
Disgusting stock car generalized bond
  02/21/18
2-3 blocks ANYWHWRE in a city? Seems hard to believe
thirsty sanctuary
  02/21/18
Well I'm talking about some pretty dense cities like Jakarta...
Disgusting stock car generalized bond
  02/21/18
the shared taxis run specific routes up and down major stree...
adventurous juggernaut
  02/21/18
right, but with uber you can call it to whatever residentia ...
thirsty sanctuary
  02/21/18
it's still the same concept.
adventurous juggernaut
  02/21/18
yes, cars coming on demand to within a few blocks of any loc...
thirsty sanctuary
  02/21/18
The "pickup locations" for shared taxis/minibuses ...
Disgusting stock car generalized bond
  02/21/18
ok man im not sure why you're trying to forcememe some shith...
thirsty sanctuary
  02/21/18
It's not clear from this article that Uber is going to do th...
Disgusting stock car generalized bond
  02/21/18
yes, it's a few blocks, not the main street in your locale j...
thirsty sanctuary
  02/21/18
one is on demand and cashless the other requires a physic...
up-to-no-good jet abode elastic band
  02/21/18
so the only difference is the payment process. physical hail...
adventurous juggernaut
  02/21/18
there arent pickup locations for shared taxis in the third w...
adventurous juggernaut
  02/21/18
"major city block" i dont think u understand h...
thirsty sanctuary
  02/21/18
They don't need to be major arteries, just busy streets that...
Disgusting stock car generalized bond
  02/21/18
...
adventurous juggernaut
  02/21/18
"you won't be fudge packed into a minivan full of poors...
aphrodisiac senate hominid
  02/21/18
OMG, can we start a change.org petition to get Uber outlawed...
talented garrison potus
  02/21/18
ljl this is literally third world shared taxi service. this ...
adventurous juggernaut
  02/21/18
I actually look forward to using this. Pool is held back by ...
crimson state
  02/21/18
a fat black bitch walking .2 mph to your Uber Express
Beady-eyed private investor set
  02/21/18
they should just have like 20 pre-defined routes that they h...
diverse magical pocket flask
  02/21/18
they did but i think it failed Express Pool isn’t as bus-...
thirsty sanctuary
  02/21/18
They can call it Unter
insane bearded dingle berry space
  02/21/18
They already launched this in a city I visited. I tried it a...
excitant impertinent turdskin
  02/21/18


Poast new message in this thread



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Date: February 21st, 2018 5:24 PM
Author: thirsty sanctuary

Uber Express Pool offers the cheapest fares yet in exchange for a little walking

3

Uber’s first new product in three years

By Andrew J. Hawkins@andyjayhawk Feb 21, 2018, 6:00am EST

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Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge

UberPool has long occupied a weird place in the ride-hailing company’s lineup of services. Riders love it because its so cheap, but drivers hate it because of the stress of ferrying multiple passengers to a variety of destinations. And the company’s executives are torn between the belief that UberPool best personifies their long-term mission of reducing the number of vehicles on the road and the millions of dollars in subsidies they need to spend in order to keep it running.

This week, Uber is formally launching a new type of carpooling service that aims to address many of these issues. It’s called Express Pool and it’s Uber’s first new product in three years. And for a company that’s built its entire business model on unsustainable and unprofitable levels of convenience, its unique in that, well, it’s kind of a schlep.

IT’S KIND OF A SCHLEP

Here’s how it works: riders who select Express Pool will be asked to wait a minute or two longer than usual to be matched with a driver. The idea is that during this additional time, Uber’s algorithm is blasting through hundreds of different drivers, routes, pickup and dropoff locations, and additional riders looking for the optimal match. After the match, riders will be directed to walk a few extra blocks to their pickup location, where (if Uber’s algorithm worked the way its supposed to) they’ll hopefully meet one or two additional riders who’ve also been matched with the same driver.

Ideally, these people are headed to the same general area as the original rider. At the end of the ride, passengers will be dropped off within walking distance to their final destination. And their reward for all this extra waiting and walking? Dirt-cheap fares, up to 50 percent cheaper than UberPool and 75 percent less expensive than UberX.

Uber isn’t the first service to offer ridiculously low prices for less convenient, shared rides. Ride-sharing service Via, in which short trips can cost as low as $5, operates in New York City, Chicago, and Washington, DC. Lyft’s carpooling service, Lyft Line, often is cheaper than UberPool, thanks to subsidies and discounts. So it makes sense that Uber would be getting more aggressive in this space.

Uber has been piloting Express Pool in San Francisco and Boston since last November. (TechCrunch was the first to catch wind.) And before that, Uber’s team in New York City was experimenting with asking UberPool riders to walk to pickups and destinations in Manhattan. So pleased are they with the results, that they’re now rolling it out to a bunch more cities: Washington, DC, Los Angeles, Miami, Philadelphia, San Diego, and Denver, with more cities on the way.

“We think carpooling is very much the way of the future,” Ethan Stock, director of product for shared rides at Uber, tells The Verge. “Not only for our service, but we think the transformation of car ownership towards carpooling is going to be tremendously beneficial for cities, for the environment, for all the reasons that we’re very familiar with — congestion, pollution, etc.”

“WE THINK CARPOOLING IS VERY MUCH THE WAY OF THE FUTURE.”

Carpooling may be the way of the future, but it’s had a rocky start at Uber. Since its launch in San Francisco in 2014, UberPool has grown to 36 cities worldwide: 16 in the US, and 20 internationally. In the cities in which it operates, UberPool accounts for around 20 percent of all rides, Stock says. And the service is rapidly approaching its 1 billionth trip.

But UberPool has also been an expensive bet for the company. In a heavily subsidized effort to attract users, the ride-hailing giant dropped $6 million between 2014 and 2015 to get UberPool running right, reports BuzzFeed. During that period, Uber sometimes burned over $1 million a week to subsidize Pool in San Francisco alone.

When it started UberPool, it had a low match rate — only 3,600 of the 35,000 trips taken in its first week carried matched riders, according to BuzzFeed. Nine months later, it had an improved match rate of 60 percent. However, Uber found that when it tried to make the service profitable and got rid of the subsidies, ridership plunged. People switched to other, cheaper services like Lyft Line or Via. This has always been Uber’s main challenge: with so much competition, riders will always gravitate to the cheapest option.

Carpooling is tricky for everyone. The service continues to be a source of frustration for many riders. Last weekend, Wall Street Journal tech reporter Greg Bensinger’s tweets complaining about Lyft Line prompted Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi to respond by teasing the improved experience of Express Pool.

dara khosrowshahi

✔

@dkhos

Uber Express POOL coming Greg. U may have to walk a block or two but we are optimizing drive and walk times to save time for everyone. #comeback https://twitter.com/gregbensinger/status/965314039290068992

12:31 PM - Feb 18, 2018

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It was with these issues in mind that Stock and his team took on the task of completely rebuilding the backend of UberPool. It took them almost a year to get it exactly right, but even then he’s left wondering whether they can truly achieve the ideal carpooling service.

“What we call a ‘perfect pool’ is when three individuals get into the car at the same place, and get out of the car at the same place,” says Stock. “In that ideal scenario, they’d each pay four bucks, and the driver and Uber’s earnings would be unaffected by that. That is a very, very difficult thing to achieve because there’s an enormous amount of logistical complexity, and what we’re always striving toward is to get as close to that optimal point.”

One unique thing that Uber did in preparation for the launch of Express Pool was to send teams of employees to walk the streets on scouting missions for ideal pickup and dropoff locations. Uber didn’t send its people out to scour every single street corner, but it did direct them to “spot check” certain locations to ensure they didn’t conflict with regulations or transit hubs. “I think it’s a tremendous superpower we have as a company,” Stock says, “if we can actually say, ‘hey, here’s 150 question-mark spots that we need to go check out in the city to make sure that they’re ok for riders and drivers, let’s go check them out and have the answer by the end of day.”

At such a low price point, it begs the question whether Uber was increasing its level of subsidies for Express Pool. But Stock says that was not the case, citing better matching algorithms, a straighter route, and a more efficient trip as “the reason why we can offer it at these lower prices.” With UberPool, efficiently matching the first passenger (formerly known internally as “master” but now referred to as “primary”) with a second and third passenger (formerly “minions,” now “secondary”) was the key to a low burn rate.

“When we’re trying to get the best possible matches, we’ve gone to an extreme non-committal state in the app that we’re not even telling you where your walking spot is going to be until after you’ve waited the one to two minutes upfront,” Stock says. “That level of dynamism is what allows us to get these most optimal matches.”

(An Uber spokesperson later clarified, “Introduction of Express Pool is allowing us to reduce our overall subsidies to shared rides because it’s more efficient.”)

“WE’VE GONE TO AN EXTREME NON-COMMITTAL STATE IN THE APP”

Express Pool isn’t as bus-like as some previous Uber experiments, like Smart Routes (in which San Francisco residents were offered discounts on rides if they were willing to be picked up and dropped off along popular roads) and UberHop (a short-lived experiment in Seattle which was designed around fixed pickup and drop-off points). “There are clearly corridors and routes where it makes sense to put a 60-passenger on that and drive it back and forth in a straight line,” Stock says. “And that is very much what we’re not trying to do here.”

That said, at such a low price point, Express Pool will certainly stand accused of trying to compete with public transportation. Recent studies have shown that as people use these ride-hailing apps more, they are using public transportation less. Many trips that could be made by foot, bicycle, or via public transit are now made by ride-hailing services. If Express Pool scales up, those numbers are likely to rise.

Uber is on a quest for the perfect ride. Back in 2015, then-CEO Travis Kalanick described it to employees as “a perpetual trip — the driver picks up one customer, then picks up another, then drops one of them off, then picks up another.” Uber’s big bet on carpooling is seen by many as a prelude to its even bigger bet on self-driving cars. But before that can happen, UberPool needs to get exponentially more efficient. And that’s where Express Pool comes in.

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(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3899771&forum_id=2#35454960)



Reply Favorite

Date: February 21st, 2018 5:27 PM
Author: walnut mind-boggling new version

cant wait til a bunch of libs have to walk thru anacostia

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3899771&forum_id=2#35454984)



Reply Favorite

Date: February 21st, 2018 5:32 PM
Author: Disgusting stock car generalized bond

This is how public minibuses already work in a lot of turd world countries. You just walk to a street corner where they stop and get in the one that's going to your neighborhood. When it gets to your neighborhood you just tell the driver to pull over at a corner that's convenient for you. Usually the price is fixed it you're staying on the normal route, but sometimes drivers will deviate a bit and take you closer to your destination for a little extra money.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3899771&forum_id=2#35455040)



Reply Favorite

Date: February 21st, 2018 5:36 PM
Author: adventurous juggernaut



(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3899771&forum_id=2#35455075)



Reply Favorite

Date: February 21st, 2018 5:37 PM
Author: Slippery stead love of her life

Silicon Valley never not disrupting!

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3899771&forum_id=2#35455083)



Reply Favorite

Date: February 21st, 2018 5:44 PM
Author: amethyst forum

Yeah, but ubers have mints and charging cables.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3899771&forum_id=2#35455163)



Reply Favorite

Date: February 21st, 2018 5:44 PM
Author: thirsty sanctuary

diff with uber is that your pickup loc is a fe wblocks from wherever you are as opposed to a set spot

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3899771&forum_id=2#35455167)



Reply Favorite

Date: February 21st, 2018 6:00 PM
Author: Disgusting stock car generalized bond

The types of minibuses I'm talking about run all over the place. You're never more than 2-3 blocks from a pick-up spot. The main difference with uber is you won't be fudge packed into a minivan full of poors.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3899771&forum_id=2#35455251)



Reply Favorite

Date: February 21st, 2018 6:05 PM
Author: thirsty sanctuary

2-3 blocks ANYWHWRE in a city? Seems hard to believe

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3899771&forum_id=2#35455281)



Reply Favorite

Date: February 21st, 2018 6:10 PM
Author: Disgusting stock car generalized bond

Well I'm talking about some pretty dense cities like Jakarta where you're never very far from a major thoroughfare. Maybe the uber system works better in a place like Cedar Rapids, although how often do you have multiple people headed to the same general destination in a city like that?

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3899771&forum_id=2#35455310)



Reply Favorite

Date: February 21st, 2018 6:17 PM
Author: adventurous juggernaut

the shared taxis run specific routes up and down major streets. it's kind of like a public bus except they can move quickly since they're not big slow buses and there is less getting on and off.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3899771&forum_id=2#35455362)



Reply Favorite

Date: February 21st, 2018 6:42 PM
Author: thirsty sanctuary

right, but with uber you can call it to whatever residentia larea you live in and have it come withi na few blocks, obvs more convenient

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3899771&forum_id=2#35455478)



Reply Favorite

Date: February 21st, 2018 6:45 PM
Author: adventurous juggernaut

it's still the same concept.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3899771&forum_id=2#35455499)



Reply Favorite

Date: February 21st, 2018 6:49 PM
Author: thirsty sanctuary

yes, cars coming on demand to within a few blocks of any location you choose is the same thing as you walking to existing pickup locations to take a bus

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3899771&forum_id=2#35455517)



Reply Favorite

Date: February 21st, 2018 6:51 PM
Author: Disgusting stock car generalized bond

The "pickup locations" for shared taxis/minibuses is just the nearest main street, same place Uber is going to pick you up. There are no fixed stops. You just walk to the street and flag one.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3899771&forum_id=2#35455533)



Reply Favorite

Date: February 21st, 2018 6:53 PM
Author: thirsty sanctuary

ok man im not sure why you're trying to forcememe some shithole azn country itt, but if you dont undersatnd how uber can come to a residential area with houses and shit to pick you up from your house or your friend's house or whatever as opposed to "the nearest main street" then i cant really help you

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3899771&forum_id=2#35455540)



Reply Favorite

Date: February 21st, 2018 6:57 PM
Author: Disgusting stock car generalized bond

It's not clear from this article that Uber is going to do that. If it's only stopping a few blocks away from your house, why not drive all the way there? Seems obvious these ubers will just be stopping at the nearest main street in your locale, hence the "you may need to walk a bit."

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3899771&forum_id=2#35455577)



Reply Favorite

Date: February 21st, 2018 7:00 PM
Author: thirsty sanctuary

yes, it's a few blocks, not the main street in your locale jfc

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3899771&forum_id=2#35455598)



Reply Favorite

Date: February 21st, 2018 6:56 PM
Author: up-to-no-good jet abode elastic band

one is on demand and cashless

the other requires a physical hail and cash/coins

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3899771&forum_id=2#35455570)



Reply Favorite

Date: February 21st, 2018 7:09 PM
Author: adventurous juggernaut

so the only difference is the payment process. physical hail and app hail are the same thing. if shit is busy, it'll take uber isnt really 'on demand'

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3899771&forum_id=2#35455671)



Reply Favorite

Date: February 21st, 2018 6:55 PM
Author: adventurous juggernaut

there arent pickup locations for shared taxis in the third world. theres always one driving down any major city block.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3899771&forum_id=2#35455558)



Reply Favorite

Date: February 21st, 2018 6:59 PM
Author: thirsty sanctuary

"major city block"

i dont think u understand how cities are laid out since you apparently think there are major city blocks everywhere but im not wasting any more time in this subthread where xo 2018 low iqmos talk about jakarta

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3899771&forum_id=2#35455588)



Reply Favorite

Date: February 21st, 2018 7:05 PM
Author: Disgusting stock car generalized bond

They don't need to be major arteries, just busy streets that people frequent.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3899771&forum_id=2#35455633)



Reply Favorite

Date: February 21st, 2018 7:08 PM
Author: adventurous juggernaut



(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3899771&forum_id=2#35455661)



Reply Favorite

Date: February 21st, 2018 8:40 PM
Author: aphrodisiac senate hominid

"you won't be fudge packed into a minivan full of poors."

Isn't the whole point to make Uber more attractive to poors?

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3899771&forum_id=2#35456343)



Reply Favorite

Date: February 21st, 2018 6:14 PM
Author: talented garrison potus

OMG, can we start a change.org petition to get Uber outlawed for cultural appropriation? so NOT ok

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3899771&forum_id=2#35455335)



Reply Favorite

Date: February 21st, 2018 5:36 PM
Author: adventurous juggernaut

ljl this is literally third world shared taxi service. this is how it works in the middle east and africa

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3899771&forum_id=2#35455074)



Reply Favorite

Date: February 21st, 2018 6:45 PM
Author: crimson state

I actually look forward to using this. Pool is held back by retarded proles misplacing pins and being slow.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3899771&forum_id=2#35455496)



Reply Favorite

Date: February 21st, 2018 7:02 PM
Author: Beady-eyed private investor set

a fat black bitch walking .2 mph to your Uber Express

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3899771&forum_id=2#35455610)



Reply Favorite

Date: February 21st, 2018 6:46 PM
Author: diverse magical pocket flask

they should just have like 20 pre-defined routes that they have a bunch of drivers doing in a loop.

it'd be like uber but for subways.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3899771&forum_id=2#35455505)



Reply Favorite

Date: February 21st, 2018 6:49 PM
Author: thirsty sanctuary

they did but i think it failed

Express Pool isn’t as bus-like as some previous Uber experiments, like Smart Routes (in which San Francisco residents were offered discounts on rides if they were willing to be picked up and dropped off along popular roads) and UberHop (a short-lived experiment in Seattle which was designed around fixed pickup and drop-off points).

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3899771&forum_id=2#35455521)



Reply Favorite

Date: February 21st, 2018 8:36 PM
Author: insane bearded dingle berry space

They can call it Unter

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3899771&forum_id=2#35456297)



Reply Favorite

Date: February 21st, 2018 7:52 PM
Author: excitant impertinent turdskin

They already launched this in a city I visited. I tried it and it sucks. The app makes you wait for 5 minutes while it “searches” for a ride then you end up getting matched with a car where the other passengers are in a standard uber pool and insist on being dropped off in their cul de sac or whatever. I guess if you really aren’t in a hurry and every dollar counts then the service is fine.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3899771&forum_id=2#35455969)