Uber App to Share Transit Departure Times

Uber recently announced a feature that could appease transit advocates concerned about the encroachment of transportation network companies on transit ridership.

1 minute read

May 18, 2017, 5:00 AM PDT

By James Brasuell @CasualBrasuell


Uber

frank60 / Shutterstock

"Uber is updating its Android app today to begin showing departure times for busses and trains that are nearby where a passenger is getting dropped off," reports Jacob Kastrenakes.

"The public transit information is being launched in partnership with the app Transit. It’ll only be available on Android at launch, and it’s starting in just shy of 50 locations, including New York City, Boston, Philadelphia, and the San Francisco Bay Area," adds Kastrenakes.

Kastrenakes also prevents his evaluation of the new function in the Uber app, questioning whether it will benefit transit use as much as Uber's public relations arm says it will. Speaking of public relations, Uber has released its own blog post explaining the new transit departure time function. 

For sake of comparison, consider the example of the Go LA app that enables for comprehensively multi-modal trip planning. 

Tuesday, May 16, 2017 in The Verge

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