By interpolating their users’ data, large firms such as Uber can revolutionize the ride share market, which has already revolutionized how people in inner-cities travel.
Major cities across the globe are suffering from greater congestion every day due to population increases, limited inner-city infrastructure and workforce migration as people look to minimise their work commute. With this increasing demand for both cost-effective and convenient travel, transportation firms both in the public and private sectors are under more pressure than ever to innovate and deliver on new methods of travel.
Using big data collected from a variety of platforms, to include user mobile app data, transportation companies and local governments may be able to determine what methods provide a viable and reliable alternative to the public.
Uber’s is innovating with Express Pool. This service is slowly being released across major cities in the US to include San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Washington D.C., with plans to roll out to more cities soon.
Building onto its existing Pool service, customers are now able to meet their driver and fellow riders at a convenient spot nearby. Uber does this through taking a few minutes to analyse your location relative to that of other potential riders, linking the riders to a nearby driver, then providing walking directions to link up the driver and the individual riders.
With the premise of getting more cars off the road and saving Uber users from a full fare, picking up multiple riders from a mutually beneficial location and arriving at a destination that’s an equal distance away from each co-rider’s desired drop-off point is a great way to get more out of the app.
By launching Uber Express Pool, Uber is adopting the principle of ‘Walk a little to save a lot.’ And when your fare can be halved, you’ll understand their point of view. By correlating user’s locational data, Uber has the opportunity to maximise the efficiency of their route planning which means lower costs and faster routes with fewer detours
If Uber is able to invest heavily and truly capitalise on the world of ride sharing, it could see the rise of an emerging demand. With an increase in the demand, we’re sure to see an increase in other companies following suit and offering similar services. This would logically cascade to competition for customers, further innovation, more viable travel options, and lower pricing points. Will correlating user locational data be the only big data role in all of this?