Uber's Glorified Bus Service Launches Rides in Atlanta

Uber is a handy service, however typically it may be considerably costly. What if as an alternative, the corporate supplied shuttles that carry a number of folks without delay, and analyzed their journey patterns to create supreme routes for pickup and drop-off stops? That may make the rides probably extra environment friendly and environmentally pleasant, as a result of extra persons are cramming into one automobile, and a shared journey may very well be extra inexpensive than a typical Uber.

Properly, you’re in luck. Uber says that beginning in Might, it’s expanding its Uber Shuttle service to Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta Worldwide Airport, and can provide quite a few routes selecting folks up from downtown and midtown, with each day service scheduled for each half-hour from 6 AM to 10 PM. The corporate already affords Uber Shuttle to and from New York’s LaGuardia and JFK airports. Rides might be requested by means of the app, with the choice to e-book as much as 5 seats without delay. Tickets will begin at $10 one-way in Atlanta, however ultimately might max out at $18.50.

We’re being a bit facetious—in fact, Uber Shuttle is a glorified bus. Some cities have extremely poor or sluggish public transit infrastructure, nevertheless. In NYC, taking an Uber Shuttle from Manhattan to JFK might be cheaper than taking public transit, and considerably extra handy if not a bit slower, relying on visitors. Anybody who has traversed from Manhattan to JFK on public transit is aware of the ache of getting to exit the subway and wait in that lengthy ticketing line to switch to the AirTrain. One other good advantage of Uber Shuttle is should you journey throughout a time that isn’t busy, you would possibly get a whole bus to your self for a fraction of the price of an everyday Uber.

Nonetheless, in case you have moral reservations about gig companies, you would possibly need to undergo by means of it and take the practice. Regardless of what firms like Uber say, lots of their drivers complain of working grueling hours and seeing wages fall over time, doing it usually out of desperation to make some fast cash. A report from final yr discovered that Uber drivers “noticed their earnings for 2024 fall 3.4% on common to $513 every week” whereas working 0.8% extra hours. On the client facet, costs have been pushed greater throughout the board so Uber, DoorDash, and the like can flip a revenue, making deliveries exorbitant on meals that arrives soggy, chilly, and unsatisfying.

Bastian Lehmann, the founding father of Postmates, not too long ago posted on X that meals supply “is a joke now,” including, “I’d be stunned if drivers are making extra at the moment than they did once we launched Postmates. DoorDash is absolutely the backside, however Uber’s not far behind.”

Final yr, Bloomberg reported that Uber and Lyft underwent a scheme in NYC to systematically lock drivers out of the app throughout sluggish durations so it might keep away from paying them a minimal wage beneath newly enacted legal guidelines there.

Typically, hailing an Uber if you find yourself drained late at evening, or simply attempting to get to the airport, is difficult to withstand, regardless of how a lot folks really feel ethically uneasy about it.

As a part-time gig employee…it is brutal on the market. Easy meals supply, overlook it, you are fortunate to get fifty cents a mile in my market. I dropped Uber Eats and Doordash from my toolbelt an extended whereas again. Even pay on buying and catering is within the dregs, although.

— Mike (@TxdoHawk) April 14, 2025