Crowdsourced Bus Startup Expands Service

"OurBus, a tech company specializing in crowd-sourced intercity and commuter bus routes, is expanding service in the Northeast and Texas," reports Metro Magazine.

OurBus launched in 2017 in New York as apparently the first company to create bus routes by crowdsourcing. Now the company is making permanent some of its more successful "pop-up routes" between Austin, Dallas, and Houston, as well as from D.C. to Norfolk, VA. It's also adding service between Rochester, New York City, D.C., Pittsburgh, and Clifton.

In addition to abandoning the point-to-point service model, the startup also differs from traditional transit agencies in that it doesn't own any buses. Yahoo Finance explained when the company launched, "It supplies only the technology and software to existing bus companies—usually charter bus companies whose buses aren’t being used to their full capacity." Rider fare also fluctuates based on demand for a particular route, Yahoo reported.