Uber鈥檚 new shuttles look suspiciously familiar to anyone who鈥檚 taken a bus
Every few years, a Silicon Valley gig-economy company announces a 鈥渄isruptive鈥 innovation that looks a whole lot like a bus. Uber rolled out Smart Routes a decade ago, followed a short time later by the Lyft Shuttle of its biggest competitor. Even Elon Musk gave it a try in 2018 with the 鈥渦rban loop system鈥 that never quite materialized . And does anyone remember Chariot?
Now it鈥檚 Uber鈥檚 turn again. The ride-hailing company recently announced , in which shuttles will travel dozens of fixed routes, with fixed stops, picking up passengers and dropping them off at fixed times. Amid the inevitable jokes about Silicon Valley once again discovering buses are serious questions about what this will mean for struggling transit systems, air quality, and congestion.
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Uber promised the program, which rolled out in seven cities at the end of May, will bring 鈥渕ore affordable, more predictable鈥 transportation during peak commuting hours.
鈥淢any of our users, they live in generally the same area, they work in generally the same area, and they commute at the same time,鈥 Sachin Kansal, the company鈥檚 chief product officer, said during the company鈥檚 May 14 announcement. 鈥淭he concept of Route Share is not new,鈥 he admitted鈥攖hough he never used the word 鈥渂us.鈥 Instead, pictures of horse-drawn buggies, rickshaws, and pedicabs appeared onscreen, reports.
CEO Dara Khosrowshahi was a bit more forthcoming when the whole thing is 鈥渢o some extent inspired by the bus.鈥 The goal, he said, 鈥渋s just to reduce prices to the consumer and then help with congestion and the environment.鈥
But Kevin Shen, who studies this sort of thing at the Union of Concerned Scientists, questions whether Uber鈥檚 鈥渘ext-gen bus鈥 will do much for commuters or the climate. 鈥淓verybody will say, 鈥楽ilicon Valley鈥檚 reinventing the bus again,鈥欌 Shen said. 鈥淏ut it鈥檚 more like they鈥檙e reinventing a worse bus.鈥
Five years ago, the Union of Concerned Scientists released a that found ride-share services emit 69 percent more planet-warming carbon dioxide and other pollutants than the trips they displace鈥攍argely because as many as 40 percent of the miles traveled by Uber and Lyft drivers are driven without a passenger, something called 鈥渄eadheading.鈥 That climate disadvantage decreases with pooled services like UberX Share鈥攂ut it鈥檚 still not much greener than owning and driving a vehicle, the report noted, unless .
Beyond the iffy climate benefit lie broader concerns about what this means for the transit systems in New York, San Francisco, Chicago, Philadelphia, Dallas, Boston, and Baltimore鈥攁nd the people who rely on them.
鈥淭ransit is a public service, so a transit agency鈥檚 goal is to serve all of its customers, whether they鈥檙e rich or poor, whether it鈥檚 the maximum profit-inducing route or not,鈥 Shen said. The entities that do all of this come with accountability mechanisms鈥攂oards, public meetings, vocal riders鈥攖o ensure they do what they鈥檙e supposed to. 鈥淏arely any of that is in place for Uber.鈥 This, he said, is a pivot toward a public-transit model .
Compounding the threat, Philadelphia and Dallas have struggling transit systems at risk of defunding. The situation is so dire in Philly that it may cut service by nearly 45 percent on July 1 amid a chronic financial crisis. That, as one Reddit user pointed out, .
Meanwhile, the federal government is cutting support for public services, 鈥攎any of which still haven鈥檛 fully recovered from COVID-19-era budget crunches. Though ridership nationwide is up to , Bloomberg News recently estimated that transit systems across the country face a . So it鈥檚 easy to see why companies like Uber see a business opportunity in public transit.
Khosrowshahi insists Uber is 鈥渋n competition with personal car ownership,鈥 not public transportation. 鈥淧ublic transport is a teammate,鈥 he told The Verge. But a 2024 released by the University of California, Davis found that in three California cities, over half of all ride-hailing trips didn鈥檛 replace personal cars, they replaced more , like walking, public transportation, and bicycling.
And then there鈥檚 the fact cities like New York grapple with and don鈥檛 need more vehicles cluttering crowded streets. During Uber鈥檚 big announcement, Kansal showed a video of one possible Route Share ride in the Big Apple. It covered about 3 miles from Midtown to Lower Manhattan, which would take about 30 minutes and cost $13.
But here鈥檚 the thing: The addresses are served by three different subway lines. It is possible to commute between those two points, avoid congestion, and arrive sooner, for $2.90. So, yes, Uber Route Share is cheaper than Uber鈥檚 standard car service鈥斺攂ut Route Share is far from the most efficient or economical way to get around in the biggest markets it鈥檚 launching in.
鈥淚f anything,鈥 Shen said, 鈥渋t鈥檚 reducing transit efficiency by gumming up those same routes with even more vehicles.鈥
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