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uberCOMMUTE - Carpooling at the press of a button

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Hunter
This is a big deal on several fronts, if not just that it's Uber's first global launch outside the US. Although cabies are worried about their livelihood being eaten up by Uber, I actually think that Uber's real threat is to public transportation infrastruction — as Uber says: " By making it easy and affordable for people to share rides, we can create affordable, efficient alternatives to individual car ownership." But who else is driving these cars than car owners? Earlier in the post Uber shows its hand: "...it’s about better public transportation, though this takes time and not everyone can live near subway or bus stop. It’s also about new technology because services like Uber can help use the existing infrastructure more efficiently today." So, more Ubers on more roads in more places around the world, filling in the cavernous gaps left by public services and the out-moded and resistant-to-change taxi industry. Yup.
, it seems to me the other interesting thing is for once, Uber is going to be playing catchup and not lead the way. Blablacar is the big player in this ride sharing space, a recent “unicorn” () and growing fast apparently. But clearly it shows how ambitious Uber is and they do not want to leave no stone unturned in the transport space. They won’t let another product grow “alone”. It will be interesting to see how the two compete.
so technically this is a loop hole around having your TLC license and essentially it could cannibalize all of the existing Uber driver's jobs.
I feel bad for BlaBlaCar, they have been doing this for a few years now.
or Zimride (now Lyft). The reality is that competition is good for us all.
uberCOMMUTE is not really like BlaBlaCar. BlaBlaCar is great for booking a ride some days in advance, uberCOMMUTE is for real-time ridesharing (for what I understand). BlaBlaCar is pretty strong in Europe and launching in the US in a market they know well. Maybe they will confront at some point, but for now they have different approach.
Nice to see, and agree with , this is focused on realtime need, not carpool planning, etc. Added to my Carpool collection... As a meta note, how does one add 'Similar Products' links on PH?
One of the the most interesting bits of news from this announcement is that Chengdu, China, is Uber's number one city in the world.
Wow this is really interesting. Will be interesting to see how it picks up :D
Interesting stuff, UBER has already been doing this in USA (NYC) when will it reach London (we need it badly!)
This would be awesome for commuting in the bay area. Casual carpool works okay from the east bay, but really only takes you to one destination. Looking forward to seeing if this can reduce the number of cars on our roads!
this seems like a really logical product. If you're an Uber driver in SF and someone requests a ride to San Jose, that could be really inconvenient. But if you're heading there anyway, you'd obviously prefer to take a passenger with you.
a little happier to be an investor in Blabla car :)
Added to my Taxi/Ridesharing collection: