Lyft To Test 'Shuttle' Service In Chicago (Think: Bus Routes, But With Rideshare Cars)

By Stephen Gossett in News on Mar 30, 2017 7:00PM

An intriguing new pilot program from rideshare outfit Lyft is rolling into Chicago, one that sounds oddly familiar in many ways. Appropriately dubbed "Shuttle," the program creates fixed routes and uses a fixed payment rate. So, yeah, it sounds a lot like a bus route.

Here's how it works, based on the reports: the routes have set pickup/drop-off stops, and the routes operate during rush hours (but users aren't subject to "surge" pricing when using "Shuttle" since rates don't fluctuate). When a rideshare hailer opens the app to request a pickup, it notifies you if you're near a "Shuttle" route—which run on weekdays only, between 6:30 and 10 a.m. and 4 and 8 p.m.

We still have so many questions. What's the rate? Where are the routes? Will there be more routes in the future? Will Lyft publish them? (Maps are handy, mass transit has proven.) Or will users alway just have to happen upon them based on proximity when they open the app? Also, are there a set amount of cars that operate in a "fleet?" Unfortunately, those details haven't been released, and a Lyft spokesperson did not immediately return a request.

Lyft of course seems particularly poised to grow and profit right now, given its ongoing accomplishment of not being Uber. Is this new venture the best way to solidify its stake? (As The Verge and TechCrunch respectively point out, Uber and Chariot have tested similar programs in the past.) One more question to consider, it appears.

[H/T Curbed]