UberPOOL: The Latest in Miami’s Local Transportation Challenges
“uberPOOL will become an important supplement to Miami’s transportation system. Launching uberPOOL in Miami is a step in the right direction toward fulfilling our vision for the future that looks a whole lot greener, cleaner, and more efficient thanks to fewer cars and more shared rides.”- Ryan Graves, Senior Vice President and Head of Global Operations
Uber announces the launch of a new ridesharing service called uberPOOL, aimed at reducing consumer costs and putting a break on the growing congestion challenges of Miami-Dade.
After its launch, Miami-Dade County will be one of only a handful of U.S. communities to offer the service, which matches Uber riders heading in the same direction to allow for lowers costs by splitting the cost of the fare.
Uber’s Senior Vice President and Head of Global Operations, Ryan Graves, hosted a special presentation to unveil uberPOOL and how the service will impact riders, drivers and local congestion, as it officially launches in Miami-Dade County on Thursday, November 19th.
The presentation, conducted at TamboWorks (5790 Sunset Drive, South Miami) highlighted some of Miami-Dade’s massive congestion and traffic issues, such as its 90% rate of commuters that drive alone, making for the worst traffic in the nation.
Recent studies have shown that Miami commuters cumulatively wasted nearly 200 million hours and more than 90 million gallons of gas as a result of congestion. On average, this delay cost more than $1,000 per commuter, with an estimated $4,444,000,000 has been lost due to congestion in Miami.
“There is no doubt the massive traffic issues in South Florida have a negative economic impact. Eventually, the hope is that uberPOOL will help Miami-Dade seamlessly move the influx of visitors around the city while ultimately relieving congestion by reducing the number of cars on the road,” – Kasra Moshkani, General Manager for Uber in South Florida.
“We’re looking to riders and driver-partners to help us test uberPOOL in Miami-Dade, and be part of the next stage of urban transportation.” said Moshkani, hoping that the uberPOOL program takes steady effect to curb Miami based congestion on the roads.
Uber will be emailing drivers on November 13th to alert them of the addition of uberPOOL, which will offer them extensive resources prior to the launch. The goal is to allow drivers to operate more efficiently, dropping the cost for riders dramatically. The new option benefits Uber’s Driver-Partners by allowing them to maximize their time efficiency and earn more money on longer trips without the downtime between passengers.
During the initial period following the Thursday, Nov. 19 launch, Uber is asking for feedback from the first riders and drivers to optimize the experience and fine-tune the product to keep up with theme of reliability with other Uber products.
Outside of Miami, uberPOOL has become a popular alternative in many major cities due to its ability to operate in other American markets with strong results. In fact, San Francisco, one of the first locations where uberPOOL has been offered for over a year, nearly half of all trips are now uberPOOL trips.
In October of this year, the program has saved 400,000 miles of driving in LA, nearly 50,000 gallons of gas in San Francisco and avoided nearly 300,000 tons of CO2 from being emitted into the atmosphere in Boston.
From us residents. Miami is ready to benefit from Uber and its newest innovations in transportation around the larger area of the county.
