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Uber moves into bike-sharing

“We see the Uber app as moving from just being about car sharing and car hailing to really helping the consumer get from A to B int he most affordable, most dependable, most convenient way,” Khosrowshahi said. “And we think e-bikes are just a spectacularly great product.”

As part of the acquisition, JUMP employees will join Uber’s team but the bike-share company will carry on as an independent, wholly controlled subsidiary, Rzepecki said.

JUMP is best known for operating dockless, pedal-assist bikes. JUMP’s bikes can be legally locked to bike parking racks or the “furniture zone” of sidewalks, which is where you see things like light poles, benches and utility poles. The bikes also come with integrated locks to secure the bikes.

Techchrunch

 

LA’s “microtransit” vision

The Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority just announced it’s looking for a friend to help it build an on-demand transit program, which would supplement the services the agency already runs.

LA Metro calls it “microtransit,” something in between a big bus that follows a rigid route and a personal ride that takes you door to door. And by “friend”, of course, we mean a private company. Uber, maybe, or Lyft, or van services such as Ford-owned Chariot or New York-based Via. On Monday, the agency that serves 1.3 million daily riders issued a request for proposals, asking anyone interested to plan, design, implement, and eventually evaluate a microtransit pilot project.

Wired

Video below shows microtransit pilots in other cities

 

Uber and deaf drivers

In recognition of Deaf Awareness Month, Uber has launched a new feature which

..”will surface a card in the feed of the rider app when they’re paired up with a driver who is deaf or hard of hearing that will give them an option to learn some basic words and phrases in American Sign Language (ASL). The rider can select basic greeting like “Hello” and “Thank you,” or learn the letters to spell out their name so they can confirm it to the driver.”

This adds to many other features Uber already has for its hearing impaired drivers

 

Ride-sharing for the elderly

For its similar system, Concierge, Lyft has joined with corporate users including Blue Cross Blue Shield Association, Sodexo home-care ­division Comfort Keepers, and Brookdale Senior Living, the largest owner and operator of U.S. ­retirement homes. Brookdale, which houses about 100,000 seniors in 47 states, began testing the service after an internal survey showed shuttle buses and black-car services weren’t meeting ­residents’ needs, says Andrew Smith, Brookdale’s director of strategy and innovation.

In February the company expanded last fall’s pilot program in Redwood City, Calif., to 20 facilities in California and Arizona. Katherine Castro, executive director of the 271-bed Redwood City location, says that even though Brookdale paid only for each person’s first ride, about a third of her residents are repeat customers, because it’s still cheaper than a taxi. “I like that it’s so reliable,” says Serene Flax, 93, who uses Lyft Concierge three to five times a week, including to get to her art studio and meet friends at a mall in San Mateo, Calif. “I’m not burdened with other riders having to make a stop.”

BusinessWeek

Video of Uber Central the concept which allows entities to request and pay for your customers' or patient’s rides at no cost to them, and without a smartphone.

 

Crowdsourced air travel

A startup in San Francisco is trying to redraw the map by tapping into a system that’s largely invisible to everyday travelers: the country’s 3,000 general aviation airports and 10,000 charter aircraft. This fleet of Federal Aviation Administration-regulated Cessna, Beechcraft, and Pilatus Aircraft Ltd. planes sits parked most of the day, waiting for last-minute charters from companies or wealthy individuals. “I thought it would be an amazing thing to bring this type of air travel to everybody,” says Rudd Davis, whose year-old startup, Blackbird Air Inc., is trying to connect more planes with passengers through its Uber-style on-demand app, at much lower prices than the $5,000 a traditional charter might cost.

BusinessWeek

Mass transit + Ride Sharing

• Altamonte Springs, Fla. The city covers up to 25% of your Uber fare to or from the city's commuter train station, or 20% of the fare for using Uber on all trips that begin and end within Altamonte Springs. The program recently expanded to Lake Mary, Longwood, Maitland and Sanford.

• Dallas. Dallas Area Rapid Transit and Lyft have partnered to offer a "first-last" mile program for mass transit users. Riders can use the Lyft mobile app to connect with a driver, then connect to a bus or light rail. DART has a separate agreement with ZipCar.

• Summit, N.J. To alleviate parking congestion, the city subsidizes ridesharing for a group of residents on a limited basis. It aims to save the taxpayers $5 million over the next two years, or about the cost of building a parking lot.

USA Today

Photo Credit

Uber Scheduled Rides

“We totally get it, and that’s why today we’re starting the global roll out of Scheduled Rides. With just a few taps on your app, you can schedule your ride 30 minutes to 30 days in advance and have the comfort of knowing your Uber will be there when it’s time to head out.”

Uber Blog

Long-distance ride-sharing

BlaBlaCar is a marketplace where you can find a driver who is driving from one city to another and book a seat in advance. It connects people with empty seats with riders. Drivers can make a bit of money while riders can travel for cheap. Like Airbnb, the company takes a small cut on every ride (currently around 15-20 percent).

BlaBlaCar also has a significant network effect. The more people use it, the more rides you will find even at the last minute, and even if you are going from a tiny city to another tiny city. It is sometimes much more effective and cheaper than a train ride.

TechCrunch

 

 

FordPass: OnStar, Uber, Apple Pay and more

FordPass incorporates several different separate sub-systems: FordGuides, FordPay and FlightCar.

FordGuides will be kind of like General Motors' OnStar, but rather than simply helping you with navigation, roadside assistance or restaurant reservations, FordGuides will help you solve your mobility concerns. Essentially, think of them as your personal mobility concierge — free of charge.

FordPay is essentially what it sounds like: A way to pay for features of FordPass. With this initial introduction of FordPass, Ford has partnered with McDonald's and 7-Eleven to make consuming fast food easier.

FlightCar, to me, might be the most interesting part of the FordPass app. At first, it'll be used to help you share or borrow a vehicle when you travel, which is neat. However, down the road, it'll be utilized for ride sharing, car sharing and multi-modal transportation. That means, in the future, FlightCar will get you from door to door anyway it needs to — from ride share to public light-rail to bicycle.

Lastly, in order to support this wild new idea of personal mobility that isn't centered around owning a $40,000 hunk of steel, Ford is also launching FordHubs in New York, London, Shanghai and San Francisco that will have real-life FordGuides onsite to help you with mobility solutions.

Mashable

 

 

Uber: Beyond rides

As he navigates, he is focused on rollouts of new services like UberPool, which encourages carpooling, and the development of driverless cars. (Uber recently plucked researchers from Carnegie Mellon to get into that race along with other firms like Google, Tesla and Ford.) He’s also thinking about his next big disruptive idea, which could take on the deeply entrenched real estate industry.

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