Uber expands ride-pool service
Uber has expanded its uberPOOL service, which allows riders to save money by sharing their ride with other users, into Palm Beach and Broward counties.
Broward County Commissioner Beam Furr helped the company announce its expansion of the service north from Miami-Dade County with a shared ride from his district office in Fort Lauderdale to the Hollywood TriRail Station on Tuesday morning.
The expanded service became available throughout Palm Beach and Broward counties on Tuesday, according to a news release from Uber.
uberPOOL works by pairing an Uber passenger with another traveler looking to book a ride in the same direction. The riders each pay less than they normally would using the regular uberX service. Uber drivers, meanwhile, are able to earn more money by logging more trips.
An uberPOOL trip can accommodate up to two requests per trip and up to two passengers per request, Uber spokesman Bill Gibbons said in an email. That means each trip can carry a maximum of four passengers, he said.
Discounts for ride sharing vary depending on the region. Riders can save up to 50 percent in heavily traveled sections of Miami-Dade, up to 30 percent east of Interstate 95 in central Broward, and up to 20 percent everywhere else in the metro area.
According to the company, the ride-sharing service benefits the environment. Since uberPOOL launched in Miami in November, more than 800,000 miles have been saved. That translates to more than 17,000 gallons of fuel and over 150 metric tons of CO2, the company said.
In South Florida, “uberPOOL can help address someof the region’s growing congestion challenges, while bringing more safe, affordable transportation options to more communities,” Kasra Moshkani, general
manager for South Florida, said in the company’s release.
Furr said Tuesday tha the participated in the launch because he believes the service will promote public transportation services such as TriRail and Lynx. If residents knew they could take a short ride to a nearby bus terminal or rail station, they’d be more likely to use public transportation, he said.
uberPOOL “allows us to get over that first-mile-lastmile hurdle that makes mass transit less convenient,” he said. He says many people refuse to consider public transportation if they have to walk too far to a pickup point. “I look at this as a game-changer.”
Uber officials contacted Furr to help spread the word about uberPOOL after learning about his support for transportation networks in recent months, he said.
Current county regulations prevent taxi companies from transporting multiple fares on the same trip, but Furr said he wants to help change those rules as part of the county’s effort to ensure traditional taxi companies remain competitive with app-based transportation services.
Uber rival Lyft launched its carpooling option, Lyft Line, in February throughout most of the tri-county region, which it calls its “Miami service area,” said Lyft spokeswoman Mary Caroline Pruitt.
Unlike uberPOOL’s limit of two requests per trip and two passengers per request, Lyft Line tries to pair single passengers with as many as three other passengers along the route in what it calls “chaining.”