City hall urged to be wary as Uber eyes public transport
‘‘Auckland Transport should be sceptical of what Uber is looking for.’’ Matt Lowrie, transport commentator
Aucklanders could soon map out their bus, train and e-scooter journeys on the Uber app.
The business wants to become the go-to for all modes of transport, even if that means suggesting a bus over an Uber ride for convenience.
Denver in the United States is the first city to introduce the integrated public transportation options on the app, and the company is looking to expand this into other cities by the end of the year, Uber’s head of Transit, David Reich, said.
Auckland Transport spokesman Mark Hannan said Uber was meeting the agency in the ‘‘next couple of weeks’’ and could discuss the possibility of replicating the Denver model.
Uber New Zealand manager Amanda Gilmore said Uber regularly met transport officials to discuss ways to complement the public transport system, and would be discussing ‘‘innovative first/last mile solutions’’ with Auckland Council.
In Denver, Uber has partnered with transit data firm Moovit to enable riders to see real-time bus and rail information in the app.
Riders can also pay for public transport through Uber, which has also partnered with mobile ticketing company Masabi.
Reich said Uber’s strategy was to continually innovate to stay ahead of its competitors.
He compared the company to Amazon, which has swallowed up competition and many small businesses as it grew.
‘‘We’re trying to build trust with our riders so that they know Uber is going to give them the best options, even if it’s not Uber,’’ Reich said.
‘‘Like Amazon, you know you’re getting quality and reliability and prices will be fair.’’
Although Reich was clear about the vision he sees for the Transit programme, details around how Uber would make its money from offering public transport ahead of its own product were less straightforward and clouded by non-disclosure agreements.
Uber wants to be the all-in-one app for all travel, he said.
‘‘There’s parts of this [strategy] we’re going to make a lot of money and there’s parts we’re not.’’
Although Uber Transit had been operating for only five weeks, Reich said customer feedback had been positive.
‘‘People are using it, but it’s not too good that no one’s taking Uber [rides] any more.’’
Larger, more populated cities around the world also have the Uber Pool feature on the app that allows riders living close to each other to car-pool, for sometimes half the price of a regular Uber ride.
Uber is also looking to enter the electric scooter market in New Zealand this year, with its own e-scooters and bikes.
Uber bought shared e-bike and e-scooter company Jump in May last year, and the service features on its app in cities across the US as an alternative to a car ride.
The editor of transport website Greater Auckland, Matt Lowrie, said replicating Uber Transit would not be difficult in New Zealand. The company could easily get access to Auckland Transport’s general transit feed, which Google Maps has access to.
But although the idea behind Uber Transit would promote more public trans-
port usage, he was concerned about a private company controlling it.
‘‘Public transport is a useful service to have, which is why we subsidise it. We don’t want to transfer all our public transport into the hands of private companies,’’ he said.
‘‘Auckland Transport should be sceptical of what Uber is looking for. We don’t want to be compromising our public transport system, particularly when it’s growing.’’
A number of cities in the US also provide subsidised Uber rides that begin or end at transportation hubs.
But Lowrie was against subsidising
Uber in New Zealand.
‘‘Public transport budgets are already very constrained. [Are subsidies] the best way to spend the money on cycling and walking routes or better bus service?’’