Car pooling is no longer a strange concept for many of us. Especially for those of us who wants to commute in the most economical and efficient manner, car pools are kind of the way to go. Now, how do we make it even easier? Here’s the good thing, New Yorkers now enjoy this service through Uber! They are implementing a flat rate of $5 for all car pools within Manhattan below the 110 Street area, but limited to peak hours between 7 to 10AM as well as 5-8PM on weekdays! However, this comes with a small price to pay. That is, you might need to walk a bit to a specific location in order to allow the pick up points to be well aligned for better travel efficiency. So the idea here is to make it more optimal to pick you up as well as drop you such that the travel route is well, ‘strategised’ for timely pick ups and well worth fare charges.
The interesting thing to note is that car pool has been very lucrative for Uber and based on their current fast growing ridership and the staggering amount of New Yorkers who are using UberPool are growing exponentially. Car pool might just be the way to go for Uber albeit their claims for a ‘complimentary public transportation’ provider.
Let’s see what happens next. I am keeping my fingers crossed that this will pick up fast and hopefully be adopted in Asia countries like Singapore! Nonetheless, Im still an avid supporter for Uber and will continue to use their services.
Zack Chia 