Uber Express Pool
 

Saved quite a bit by agreeing to walk across the street to their "designated" pick up spot. Combined with a current targeted $4 per ride credit, the net fare to go a couple of miles was under a dollar


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That is fine with the $4 credit, but that is a $5 fare for what is essentially a small bus. Looking at the price comparison, the difference between Pool and EP isn't sufficient to make up for what Uber says is 2 blocks on either end, but may actually wind up being more. Especially in lousy weather.

I checked a short trip just a while ago for comparison, and the Express rate was still significantly lower, even setting aside the $4 credit.

I have used Express Pool quite a bit in San Francisco, here are my comments.

Pickups are challenging. The Uber app might say, "walk to NW corner of XXX and YYY street." But the driver may end up approaching the SE corner. Or the entire intersection will be clogged with traffic and have no place for a car to pull over.

Dropoffs are confusing. You won't know where the driver is actually taking you, because the dropoff location may change as co-riders are added. You just have to wait for the driver to tell you when it's time to get out of the car, and then you're on your own to your actual destination.

Savings are trivial for short trips. A 2-3 mile ride from SOMA to Hayes Valley just now was $5 Express, $6 Pool.

Savings may be substantial for long trips, but is your destination walkable? I often see SF to South Bay on the order of $20 Express, $30 Pool, $40 UberX. But beware that suburbs can be impractical to navigate on foot. I had a co-rider who would have had to cross a highway and walk uphill to a gated community after his Express Pool dropoff. Our driver took pity on him and drove to his front door.

Even a short walk could be hazardous. In many areas, 1 city block is all it takes to separate safety from danger. I once called Uber Express Pool from a luxury apartment late at night and saw, "walk to 6th & Mission." Cancel, cancel, cancel!

I've taken the liberty to edit the quote for more accuracy :D

I've used Express Pool on a number of occasions, mostly in Oakland/Berkeley, and a few times in SF. A few days ago, the rate difference on a ride to SF was over $5. The driver came to my house (which was the pickup point). That said, I've had to walk several blocks and have experienced the same "wrong direction, wrong corner" situations.

My biggest complaint Express is (1) wait times to find a car are longer, and (2) other riders using Express don't know how it works, and get upset when they aren't dropped off at their intended destination. But overall, if I'm in no rush and don't mind walking a few blocks, it is fine for me

The App is not "intelligent" and treats 2 blocks as 2 blocks, even if there are barriers or other reasons which could cause you to walk 6 blocks and miss your pickup. Either the technology is improved or this will be another former service.

I had a pickup point designated yesterday that looked OK on the map, as the crow flies. However, it required crossing a busy street, where the nearest lights/crosswalk added several extra blocks walking and waiting time.

Interesting Express Pool experience today in San Francisco - dropoff order changed mid-ride.

I'm picked up in the Lower Haight, going to Rincon Hill. There's already another rider, and the Uber app indicates he will be dropped off first - in North Beach. Whaat?!

Many SF roads are closed today for a marathon. The driver ignores Uber navigation and takes his own route up Market Street. Somewhere around Montgomery, I hear a chime and the driver's app announcing a route change. I open the Uber app on my phone and it now says I'll be dropped off first. The driver makes a right turn and I'm out shortly thereafter.

Pretty long walk from Express dropoff to my destination today. Seedy streets, too. (This is San Francisco.)

https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...1a73cbe6bd.png

I think it's a neat concept personally, and if there are bugs I expect they'll work them out.

I was in New York last fall and using UberX, it would direct me to a particular corner, which makes sense given the one-way streets. In that particular case the driver seemed to be wandering around though and we wound up meeting him on a different corner.

The one time I used Pool Express I was parking in a residential neighborhood and going to the airport. I had to walk one block, but there was nothing significant about that particular corner. I wonder if they would have made multiple passengers offload at the same terminal, since as you go through you just go A-B-C-D-E in a straight line.

I saved a buck or two, which I added to the tip.

I wish the regular UberX (not shared) had an Express option to save me time - even if it cost the same.

As for Express Pool - it's better than a Muni bus (no crazy people), and often faster too.

It does. App will recommend, after requesting your ride, "change your pickup to (nearby location) to arrive X minutes faster"

Interesting. I've never seen that! Is that a standard feature, or is it some sort of split-test that I'm not a part of?

Lyft does it all the time in NYC with one-way streets north/south and east/west. You always have the option to deny it. Which is good when getting picked up from the Doctors with a broken foot.

You can always move the pin to get picked up at a location that makes more sense from a traffic/routing perspective, if you want. Of course, you have to be familiar enough with where you are and where you're going to know what makes the most sense.

This is exactly what I wish Uber could solve for me. I don't necessarily know the traffic patterns when I'm traveling. Uber clearly has have that capability (optimizing based on real-time traffic), but only seems to offer it during Express Pool.

It astonishes me what people are willing to put up with to save a few dollars. Is your time not worth more than the $3 you save on an Express POOL trip?

I'll add an additional drawback: Uber drivers are less likely to accept your request if you order an Express POOL because they know that people who choose this option are less likely to tip, and are more likely to rate them lower because they are unhappy about the experience of having to walk from a bad drop off point (and not the driver).

I ordered it once, and after seeing the next pickup literally sprinting to make the pickup in time (apparently she had to run almost 0.3 miles in about 2 minutes) to avoid a cancellation fee (the cancellation timer is 2 minutes on a POOL ride) and realizing that the 15 minute ride ended up taking close to 30 minutes because of all the additional pickups, I learned that the $3 I saved was not worth it.

Not sure about this. Uber and Lyft drivers don't seem to "accept" requests anymore, at least for the pooled rides. New rides are simply added to their queue.

That's the way it seems to work in NYC. I don't know if they know the initial pickup is an UberPool pickup, but after that, the app just beeps, and adds another pickup, there's no option for the driver.

That's the way it has always worked in my area for LyftLine. The driver doesn't see what kind of ride it is, and it doesn't tell them it's a line ride until they've picked me up.

Drivers have the option of going offline after accepting the first request. Smart ones game the system depending on the driver incentives being provided to them to maximize their earnings.

For the first request, drivers often avoid Uber POOL pickups for several reasons. It is paid out at a worse rate than regular UberX, and passengers tend to be more difficult to deal with.

I believe Lyft Line pays the same, such that a driver who has multiple simultaneous riders is effectively double- or triple-dipping on fares.

Anyhow - I used Uber Express Pool again tonight. This time the app gave me a notification with my exact dropoff location at some point during my ride. But the dropoff location was just on the shoulder of a major thoroughfare with no sidewalks.

I used Express Pool to get from K Street in DC to Dulles the other day -- $18 vs ~$35 for pool vs $54 for UberX. I had time to kill so at that rate it was worth seeing what it would cost to save $36. I was asked to walk from 1629 K St NW to Connecticut & K (about a 3 minute walk). Driver was clueless about the fact that I had been told to go to a specific corner. We were supposed to pick up another passenger, but someone must have canceled -- because I ended up getting the ride to IAD solo for the $18 (and was working on laptop in the car anyhow). What a steal. (And, as expected, I was dropped at the normal IAD dropoff area because where else would they drop you, out on the tarmac somewhere?)

Tried it again another time to go a short distance in DC but the 3 minute walk on each end was very not worth it. I'll definitely consider it to or from an airport if I have the buffer.

https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...d9c47ee3a8.jpg
pretty shocking disparity in quoted fare for a trip from my San Francisco downtown office to SJC airport.

I took express pool on 3 short rides yesterday. The percentage disparities were quite large, i.e., express/pool/X on one ride was approximately $4/$8/$12. I'm not too proud to walk a few blocks. One ride did put me on the other side of the street than the driver's arrival, but I saw him, waved, and crossed the street ... and amusingly confusingly told me to go to the SW corner of Broadway and Broadway.

Yesterday, the Uber driver app was having the driver, as he neared within a couple if blocks, all of a sudden make a convoluted minor reroute that caused my Uber-assigned pick-up spot across very busy traffic to be either impossible or difficult to actually accomplish. The first driver waited on his side of the street for 2 minutes, and cancelled as a no-show, so I was dinged the $5. The next driver realized what was going on, and caught a lucky break in that he could pull across the the designated street in a brief traffic lull to actually pick me up in the correct spot. I objected to the cancellation fee online, which was immediately refunded by Uber.