Ford promises NYC subway hell relief

TheMTA’s“SummerofHell” maycoola bit next month — thanks to a crowdsourced shuttle service being readied by Ford MotorCo.

Ford will launch the service by offering roundtrips— for $4eachway— for routes between Greenpoint and Dumbo in Brooklyn, as well as acircuit betweenMidtownandtheLowerEast Side.

Customers will be driven by professional drivers in Wi-Fi-equipped Ford Transit vans that can seat 14 passengers.

Ford’s so-called Chariot shuttle will expand its service in the coming months by asking prospective customers to propose newroutes onits site, www.chariot.com.

Ford expects that Queens and other “transit deserts” — as the company calls areas withfewpublic-transportation alternatives — are the mostlikely beneficiaries of Chariot’s expansion.

Only 54 percent of Queens’ housing units are within half a mile of a subway, for example, compared with 94 percent of those in Manhattan, according to research by NewYorkUniversity’s FurmanCenter.

“Wewanttoconnectpeoplemoreeasily to where they want to go — whether they need help making it to a transit hub or live in anareaunderservedbypublictranspor- tation,” said Chariot Chief Executive Ali Vahabzadeh, who founded the service in San Francisco three years ago.

The service is also up and running in Austin and Seattle.

Ford, whichacquiredChariotlastyear, is committed to having 60 Ford Transits operating in NewYorkbyOctober.

Theappwillalsoallowcommuterstoreserve a seat and pay their fares through prepaid and tax-free accounts like WageWorks.

Anaddedbenefit, according to a KPMG study, is that everyChariotvehicle in operation removes 10 cars from the road.