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Uber Rolling Out Scheduled Rides In Seattle (geekwire.com)

Posted by msmash on from the more-convenient dept.

Scheduled rides are coming to Uber. The ride-hailing announced on Thursday that users in Seattle can now schedule a pickup request as far out as 30 days in advance. GeekWire reports: The ride-sharing service said scheduling is a top-requested feature from business travelers and the company said priority access will be given to riders who have Business Profiles or are linked to their company's Uber account. Uber says it will bring it to other "major" cities soon.

15 comments

  1. Scheduled? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Troll

    Anyone who has ever scheduled anything (flights, restaurants, cars) knows this doesn't make one bit of difference. The program will just send all the drivers a ride request 15 mins before your "scheduled" time for one of them to respond to as normal ride requests go.

    1. Re:Scheduled? by NotInHere · · Score: 1

      If your restaurant is anything but shit and produces the food from fresh ingredients (maybe this kind of restaurant doesn't exist in england and its former colonies like America, dunno), then the owner is actually really happy if you pre-order by a day or two. They need to know what to buy. Their alternative is to let stuff rot away, and maybe sell it to customers just before its too rotten to be kept longer. Or to say "its out" when the customers want it. But neither of them is pleasing for the customer. So better pre-order if you are organizing a larger party.

    2. Re:Scheduled? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Who the fuck are you, the soup nazi? Yes, us mere American's don't buy dinner weeks in advance. So what happens if you don't show up for your reservation, does the restaurant come after you because now they are losing money on the food they pre-bought but never sold you? Or do they just get the next fat slob waiting outside in queue to come in eat in their restaurant? Point being, the reservation didnt mean shit

    3. Re:Scheduled? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

      program will just send all the drivers a ride request 15 mins before your "scheduled" time

      Which is a dramatic improvement on Uber's current sending it only after you request the ride! Those fifteen minutes easily could save me waiting fifteen minutes for the uber driver.

      So.. yeah, even that is an improvement.

    4. Re:Scheduled? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Wrong. Nothing goes to waste in a properly managed restaurant. Yesterdays meat and veggies become the soup of the day, excess bread becomes croutons, et cetera.

  2. Surge by fluffernutter · · Score: 3, Funny

    I can see it now. "Oops, your scheduled ride came up during a period of high surge pricing! That will be $100 please."

    --
    Laws are rules for the court, but merely a bottom bar to hit for life. Think beyond laws in your actions always.
    1. Re:Surge by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      presumably if people schedule in advance then ubs can manage peak times without resorting to mob mentality pricing.

  3. Uber struggling to remain relevant by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    For Uber to survive they need features nobody else has.

  4. This and some more exists in competitors apps by untelp · · Score: 3, Informative

    I use Uber and its Chinese competitors in Shanghai (or in China I'd rather say I use the Chinese car hailing apps and their competitor Uber).
    Yidao and Didi already have those scheduled rides and quite some other options:
    - Pick-up at the airport, where you provide your flight number so the car adapts to the plane being late
    - Hire a car for a half day or full day
    - Choose your driver instead of letting the system select
    - Integrated text message facility, where you can save your usual messages to be sent in one click to your driver

    Uber big advantage is its translated app and worldwide support team that is able to handle cases in your language.

    1. Re:This and some more exists in competitors apps by serviscope_minor · · Score: 1

      - Pick-up at the airport, where you provide your flight number so the car adapts to the plane being late

      This has been a feature of booked cabs and minicabs about since about forever. AddisonLee have offered it through their app for years too.

      --
      SJW n. One who posts facts.
  5. AKA: the bus by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    but costs more.

  6. So still not a taxi service? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    How wouldn't this make them instantly illegal in most places they're operating? Before they at least had a fake argument that they weren't a taxi service.

  7. Airport service? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Is Uber legally allow to drop and/or pickup riders at the airport? Shuttle and taxi service to SeaTac airport could do with some competition, IMHO. Light rail service to the airport is inconvenient as hell given that it drops you off half a mile away from the terminal in an area that gets plenty of wet and windy days.

  8. Fantastic if it works after-hours by PeeAitchPee · · Score: 1

    I can generally get an Uber driver within 10 minutes during the day, but sometimes I take the first flight out, and no drivers are available in my area before 6 AM it seems. So those days I'm stuck waiting 45 minutes for a foul-smelling, expensive cab ride. This is a huge value-add for business travelers if it helps cover more of the clock -- but perhaps we have to wait for the self-driving cars for that.