Uber has been operating a pilot program for ‘Express Pool’ in Boston & San Francisco for some time but yesterday officially launched. It’s still only available in: Boston, San Francisco, Washington, DC, Los Angeles, Miami, Philadelphia, San Diego and Denver. The idea behind Express Pool is that riders will be directed to walk to central pick up point (changing depending on where other rides are), riders will also then be dropped off in a central drop off area (again depending where other riders are being dropped off/picked up) and have to walk to their final destination. This little animation makes this clearer:
The advantage to Uber Express Pool is that it’s up to 75% cheaper than UberX and up to 50% cheaper than UberPool. The downside is that you’re not picked up at your location or dropped off at your destination. I usually don’t find that UberX’s price point is an issue, although if you’re using it frequently (e.g daily commute) or for longer trips then I can see the significant savings being worth it. I guess it will really depend on how good the matching technology is, how many other uber users are using it and how other passengers are. Fingers crossed they also released some promotional codes to help launch the new option, as they did with San Francisco & Boston. Click here to view Uber discounts.
