start-ups find footing with crowdsourced bus service in cities with ailing transit

From San Francisco to Austin to New York, app-
The service based on the bus allows people to choose the bus route and book the bus route.
Responsible for their commute. The Uber-for-
In major cities in the United States, the change in buses is a trendS.
Connect passengers to charter cars, connect communities to city centers, and transport the masses to major events.
\"Crowdsourcing is the future of mass transit,\" said ourhellman, a technology startup who is the transportation planner for our bus.
New York City has three crowdsourcing routes, including one recently launched from Livingston, New York. J.
To Midtown Manhattan.
\"If you are a community with a growing population and heavy traffic, hellman says:\" some kind of public transport service is needed . . . . . . You have to rely on your transport agency to get the money for a new route . \".
\"But we are here to allow people to create their own bus lines.
\"The platform allows commuters to submit route suggestions, the preferred route --
Points and departure time.
If the proposal gets enough votes
Some companies require 50-
Then rented a bus for the service.
Travel is usually not confirmed until a large portion of the seats are sold.
For daily commuters, these services are generally designed to complement existing transportation options
Expand capacity during morning and evening rush hours and sometimes provide services to transit deserts or underserved communities.
They also provide transportation for activities that attract a large number of people, such as the Women\'s March in Washington this year, which attracted thousands of participants, many of whom took buses through New York-Based on the Rally application.
Experts say as transportation agencies in cities such as Washington and New York face long-term failures and service failures, frustrated passengers may have increased demand for these alternative travel options.
More and more passengers\' discontent with traditional choices has given technology companies a good Test opportunity for innovative services, just as American discontent with the taxi industry has led to the rapid spread of Uber and Lyft.
\"The danger is that people like these options better than public transport.
It will be a disaster, \"said jararrett Walker, a transit planning consultant based in Portland.
But what is even more worrying, he said, is that people will flee the crossing and return vehicles that will further block the road.
If the service increases capacity during peak hours and reduces Single
Then experts say they may be beneficial to cities trying to reduce congestion and fight the traffic system.
\"Anything that effectively allows people to travel in fewer vehicles rather than more vehicles is valuable for the operation of the city,\" Walker said . \".
The scope of services provided by these companies is usually limited to peak hours.
Small hours and special activities so they are not big
The scale of the public transport system competes, and the public transport system usually provides a wide network of bus and rail connections.
But service is not always successful. Like many app-based start-
In the world of shared rides, this is especially true of frequent start-up and downtime.
In Washington, similar Micro
Transportation risks are difficult to climb from the ground.
Bridj started in Boston, offering rides according to customer needs, and suddenly shut down two years after its launch in Washington.
\"They can come and go, and in many markets they are still trying to figure out what works, but it doesn\'t work in every market,\" said Peter Pantuso, president of the American Bus Association, the association has 4,000 members, including car coach operators.
Chariot is a crowdsourcing commuter shuttle service that began in San Francisco in 2014 and has expanded to Austin, Seattle and New York in recent months.
The service was acquired by Ford last year and can take up to 14 passengers from home to work.
Unlike other companies that only offer technology to connect passengers to existing charter companies, Chariot has its own vehicle.
It operates more than 200 trucks in the Bay Area.
This month, the company launched two routes in New York, one from the Lower East Side to Midtown Manhattan and the other from Brooklyn.
When the chariot was parked in New York, company officials said they were voting from commuters to build a new route.
Chariot\'s tools allow people to come up with new routes, and if the proposal gets 49 supporters within a month, Chariot will consider launching it.
\"Better way to commute for you
Your neighbor.
\"In your hands,\" the company said . \".
These services say they are priced at the same price as public transport, and in some cases include features like free WiFi and USB charging ports. Ourbus\'s one-
Travel the way from West Orange, NJ.
$7 on the new Livingston highway.
75, while the New Jersey bus option may cost $8. 55.
The sneak app helps with N from Morristown. J.
Take the bus to Penn Station, New York for $13;
The train fare for the New Jersey transportation agency is $14.
Chariot offers passes ranging from $69 to $119 a month and allows commuters to use their tax benefits for the service.
Technology companies have found an attractive market in New York\'s metropolitan area, which faces increasing traffic problems, including subway derailment, failure and long-term delays.
The Livingston-to-Manhattan route of our bus coincided with the time when Penn Station closed three tracks, as part of a lot of maintenance work, which caused inconvenience to thousands of Iron Road commuters this summer.
The company recently started testing trips to Washington from Upper Manhattan and params, New York. J.
Service is provided in underserved areas of New York, where there is a demand for bus services to the capital.
It added a route from Brooklyn to Washington for the Labor Day weekend.
Hellman said the company is exploring commuter routes from the outskirts of North Virginia, where it can take advantage of the strong demand for existing HOT lanes and commuter services.
According to the Bus Association, commuter buses in the area transport 10,000 to 12, 00 people per day from Maryland and Virginia.
Pantuso says the surge in crowdsourcing apps has somehow expanded the bus business and increased competition in other ways.
Companies that offer commuter bus services face new competition and even report passenger losses.
But crowdsourcing for special events is creating or expanding the bus market and travel opportunities for customers who may not know or know that there are any services available or not large enough to charter a team.
\"The bus company may not have provided the service, so they are getting new passengers from it,\" Pantuso said . \".
In some markets, including the popular New York to Washington. C.
If more competition is added, transportation companies may feel pressured.
\"Are they going to expand the market, or are they going to learn from what\'s already there?
I think the problem is here . \"
\"They will tell you that they will expand it, but I don\'t know if they know the answer.