Get on the bus with Uber’s new ‘Express Pool’ service

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Uber
As a result of the settlement, each impacted Pennsylvania Uber driver will receive a $100 payment. Approximately $1.35 million will go to these drivers. (MONTCO.today file photo)

Uber is expanding its reach in the Philadelphia region by introducing Express Pool, which will make Philadelphia one of just six cities in the country to offer this bus-like alternative.

Express Pool will work like Uber Pool, in that drivers will pick up separate passengers and drop them off at different locations. The difference is that Express Pool will usually ask the riders to walk a few blocks to a pickup location, “dynamically located” to maximize trip efficiencies, said Ethan Stock, Uber Express Pool’s product lead, in a video-conference with reporters. Same goes for drop-offs: riders will be let out close to their destination, instead of directly in front of it, writes Jim Saksa for the Philadelphia Business Journal.

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In exchange for walking a little bit and sharing the backseat with a stranger, Express Pool will be up to 75 percent cheaper than Uber X, the company’s standard option to hail a driver using his or her own car, and half the price of Uber Pool. In Philly, that could mean trips across Center City could go for less than $2.50, the cash price for hopping on SEPTA.
That could mean more bad bus ridership numbers for the transit agency already seeing steep declines. City transit ridership declined another 5.1 percent, or 6.25 million trips, during the first half of fiscal year 2018 compared to last fiscal year, which ended June 30, 2017. That’s despite the fact that the six-day transit strike in November 2016 occurred during FY 2017.

To read the complete story click here.

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