The 14th Ave parking lot across from Porchlight Coffee will be part of a small experiment from big transportation network company Uber.
Thursday morning, the first Capitol Hill pick-up for the company’s newest test program is scheduled for sometime after 7 AM. It’s like a carpool for people who don’t have cars and who are willing to pay $5 for a ride. It’s like a bus for people who don’t want to ride a bus and who are willing to pay $5 for a ride. It’s uberHOP.
uberHOP is a new service we’re piloting in Seattle beginning Thursday, December 10. It will be available along select routes during commuting hours. Here’s how it works:
Open the app and select uberHOP. Choose a route and request an uberHOP.
We’ll pair you up with a driver as well as other commuters traveling in the same direction. You’ll then get directions on where and when to catch your ride.
Using those directions, walk to your pickup location where a driver and your fellow commuters will meet you. You’ll need to be on time as your uberHOP driver will leave promptly.
At the end of your journey, you’ll be dropped off at a pre-destined stop so you can walk the last few blocks to work.
The Capitol Hill stop in the parking lot next to the First AME Church is part of three routes Uber is planning to test in Seattle: Capitol Hill-downtown, Fremont-downtown, and Ballard-South Lake Union.
uberHOP will cost Capitol Hill riders $5 flat for a ride to the designated downtown stop or back. The service will use the company’s ranks of freelance drivers. CHS reported earlier, by the way, that independent drivers were District 3’s top new business in 2015 based on new business licenses in the city.
Uber already has an existing carpooling service called UberPool operating in “several cities worldwide,” Geekwire reports. UberPool does not require riders to walk to pre-determined locations but does not use a flat rate like uberHOP.
That flat rate and the use of specific stops make the new pilot one of Uber’s most Metro-like services for the company often accused of being as erosive of public transportation as it is complementary. Perhaps someday soon, you’ll be answering surveys about moving an uberHOP route from Pine to E Olive Way.
If I see one of these HOP vehicles in the bus lanes, I’m going to slap a sticker on the car. And I bet they’ll try to argue that they’re a bus service.
Still much better than all the occupants each driving (or Ubering) solo to work
Is this a thing? What does your sticker say?
Look up the “Stop a Douchebag” movement in Russia. Those kind of stickers would be great to slap on all kinds of lane violators.
Please be safe whilst chasing after offenders, consider wearing a helmet.
I’d rather see this consolidation of passengers over SOV or individuals being chauffeured by a driver.
I envy the extra time you have on your hands for sticker slapping. Vandalism is always productive.
If it works, this could help with congestion.
I like too that this offers a lower-cost option that could still potentially be more reliable and less crazy-making than buses.
Interesting that Uber is becoming more and more integrated into publicly accessible transportation options. I hope this means that drivers will take responsibility for the fact that they’re offering a public service, and not just giving a buddy a ride.
Not discriminating against disabled passengers is a big part of providing public service. I know: amazing concept!
http://www.wired.com/2015/08/uber-disability/
Chances are, these are people who might’ve suffered through the indignity of riding the bus, or walked, not driven solo. So it might increase congestion, since handling 1-3 passengers is still less than a single bus.