Walk A Little and Get Cheap Fares: Uber Express POOL

People who live in large metropolitan areas are likely to be familiar with Uber POOL - the service that enables people to hop into an Uber ride that is already carrying at least one other passenger. And since both are sharing the ride, fares go down for both the passenger.

Happening in certain major U.S. cities as of now, Uber is rolling out a different version of Uber POOL called Uber Express POOL. It is a new service that gets the rider cheaper fares in exchange for a little walking on his/her part. It also pairs up the rider with other riders but reduces the load on the driver by having the person walk to meet him/her in a more accessible pick-up spot. The entire thing works on Uber’s new ride algorithm.

As an example, a person may be at a shopping arcade on a cross-street that is one-way, while the driver of an Uber vehicle is on the one-way block. To pick up that person on the arcade in an Uber POOL, the driver would have to go around the block and back down the one-way, which is not very efficient. So, this new service, Uber Express POOL would instead ask the person on the shopping arcade, to walk to a better pick-up location, so the driver doesn’t have to alter the route drastically.

And in return for that little walk, Uber Express POOL gives the cheapest fare Uber has ever offered. Sounds cool, right?

Via and Lyft are Two of the Uber’s biggest competitors that offers the same kind of services where people share their ride with someone else for a cheaper fare. And since the pricing of these services is competitive, Uber is struggling to keep the competition neck-to-neck. So, Uber Express POOL is the company’s hopeful answer to all the issues, as it puts less stress on drivers, gives a more reliable discount to riders, and is not cost-prohibitive for the company’s bottom line.