Lyft Shuttle Test in Chicago and San Francisco Sure Does Resemble a Bus

Silicon Valley companies seem to love the word innovate, but the new shuttle service from Lyft feels like bus service. "Lyft riders now have the opportunity to walk to a predetermined location, climb aboard a vehicle that will travel a set route to a predesignated drop-off point, and pay a flat rate for the service. If it walks like a bus, talks like a bus, and quacks like a bus … it’s probably a billion-dollar, venture-backed startup," Victor Luckerson writes in The Ringer.

Luckerson points out that ride sharing apps like Uber and Lyft have been trying to augment or replace public transit for some time: with programs where city governments subsidize Uber rides and Lyft product designed to get people to the nearest Metro stations. "Both Uber and Lyft want to evolve from being indulgences for people who can afford them to vital elements of urban (and suburban) infrastructure," Luckerson argues.