UBERPOOL

At the Dreamforce 2015, I was fortunate to listen to billionaire Travis Kalanic, as he talked to another billionaire Mark Benioff. The former is the co-founder of Uber, a mobile application that connects passengers with drivers of vehicles for hire and ridesharing services. The latter is the Chairman & CEO of Salesforce, Inc. – organizer of the annual Dreamforce conferences.

Uber operates in 58 countries and in more than 300 cities around the world. Most recently, it launched the UberPool which Kalanic discussed with Benioff.

I got interested on the topic because of the traffic problems that the Metro Manila area is now experiencing.

Here is a brief write-up on UberPool when it was first launched.

Since the early days of Uber, we’ve been excited about the idea of providing transportation so inexpensive and reliable, people can actually sell their cars.

Today, we’re announcing a bold experiment straight from the Uber Garage that we believe will be another important step toward that vision, and we’re calling it UberPool.

UberPool – The Idea

 />The idea is simple. With UberPool, you share a ride—and split the cost—with another person who just happens to be requesting a ride along a similar route. The beauty, though, is that you still get Uber-style on-demand convenience and reliability: just push the button like before and get a car in five minutes. When we find a match, we notify you of your co-rider’s first name.

Why We’re So Excited

While the UberPool idea is simple, the implications are profound. On average, uberX already costs 40% less than taxi. Imagine reducing that cost by up to another 50%! In San Francisco, how about $6 to Uber from the Castro to the Financial District? Or $10 from Sunset to SOMA? At these price points, Uber really is cost-competitive with owning a car, which is a game-changer for consumers.

This is also a bold social experiment. There’s the interaction between riders in an UberPool—should they talk to each other? When is that cool and when is it, well, annoying? We’re going to find out how this brave new world of UberPooling works—we’ll iterate on this beta product and get it right, because the larger social implications of reducing the number of cars on the road, congestion in cities, pollution, parking challenges… are truly inspiring.

When Do We Launch?

This is rolling out immediately in private beta. Because UberPool is an early beta product, there will undoubtedly be kinks and surprises to work through. Throughout the beta, we’ll be training more drivers and getting feedback from initial riders and drivers doing UberPool rides.

Our friends at Google will also be joining us in the beta. They share our vision of a more energy-efficient world with less traffic congestion and pollution in our cities and are excited to be early adopters of UberPool. The beta has been expanded more broadly on August 15, 2015.