The Future Of Your Commute
by The way we move through the world is undergoing a deep tectonic shift. Ride-sharing services like Uber and Lyft have come to dominate a new market, where people pay for miles instead of buying vehicles, and the same model is now, controversially, being applied to scooters. Cars can actually drive themselves, under certain conditions. But what could all this mean for the future of how we commute?
RIDESHARING ON OVERDRIVERidesharing is here to stay–emphasis on sharing. Investor Rob Coneybeer, the managing director of Shasta Ventures, points out that even though ridesharing has grown in popularity in the United States and beyond, many vehicles on the road remain underused. “When you look at some of the more mature Uber and Lyft markets, the percentage of their rides that are pool rides are very large,” he says.Coneybeer believes that using smaller vehicles to carry passengers from one location to a final destination–often called the “last mile” problem–can be more efficient than a bus that follows a set route at all hours of the day. Will it replace public transit?