Uber is gearing up to pilot a new ride-sharing service in Seattle called uberHOP, in an attempt to get “more butts into the backseats of fewer cars,” according to an Uber blog post from today. Uber already has uberPOOL in place, which makes up almost half of Uber’s rips in San Francisco, but the company calls that a “first step.”
In Chicago, Uber is going to start piloting a new program for Uber drivers called uberCOMMUTE, which will be available Monday through Friday from 6 AM to 10 PM. This seems to be geared toward people who don’t already drive for Uber, but are looking to make a few extra bucks while driving to and from work. Passengers who want to roll with uberCOMMUTE need to select uberPOOL and then choose the “commuters” option. I’d imagine the commuters option would be cheaper than the standard pool option, but I’m waiting to hear back from Uber for more details.