Uber is piloting a telephone dispatch system in Pinellas County, Florida to allow potential riders who don't have smartphones to access the service by calling a hotline and making a booking. The new booking service is part of a local programme aimed at granting publicly subsidised Uber trips to low-income residents without access to transportation. The Verge reports that Uber's adoption of a seemingly “old fashioned” telephone booking service could be seen as a sign that the ride-sharing platform wants to be “taken more seriously by public transit agencies as a complement – or even alternative – to existing mass transport options”. As we reported each month, Pinellas County became the first in America to offer subsidised Uber rides as a mass transit option to help commuters get to and from bus stations, in the hope of making public transport more accessible.
Uber is piloting a telephone dispatch system in Pinellas County, Florida to allow potential riders who don't have smartphones to access the service by calling a hotline and making a booking. The new booking service is part of a local programme aimed at granting publicly subsidised Uber trips to low-income residents without access to transportation. The Verge reports that Uber's adoption of a seemingly “old fashioned” telephone booking service could be seen as a sign that the ride-sharing platform wants to be “taken more seriously by public transit agencies as a complement – or even alternative – to existing mass transport options”. As we reported earlier this year, Pinellas County became the first in America to offer subsidised Uber rides as a mass transit option to help commuters get to and from bus stations, in the hope of making public transport more accessible.