Uber takes up a position on the carpooling field with the launch of Share roada targeted offer on home-work journeys, structured around fixed routes and a low cost pricing model. Available initially in the United States, the service marks a strategic shift to a more supervised shared transport logic, potentially transposable to large European metropolises.
Concretely, Route Share offers journeys up to 50 % cheaper than those of a Uberx, but with constraints, such as restricted availability during peak hours on weekdays, departures every 20 minutes, and the sharing of the vehicle with two other passengers. The offer is currently tested in New York, Chicago, San Francisco, Boston or Dallas.
For Uber, the objective is double, both respond to the growing sensitivity of users at pricein a context of lasting inflation, and also Stabilize a regular user base. Pendulum journeys today represent almost 30 % of the world’s world activity. For these purposes, Uber also launches a pricing allowing prices to freeze on recurring routes, with discounts up to 20 % for users who preaching their journeys.
A model closer to shuttle than spontaneous carpooling
Share route does not reproduce the historical carpooling model between individuals. This is a hybrid systemhalfway between demand on demand and public transport. The routes are predetermined, the schedules, the reservation framed. This approach aims to be better operational optimization in high density areas, while maintaining the flexibility of the Uber model (individual cars, independent drivers).
This logic could suit several European metropoliseswhere congestion, environmental pressure and the budgetary constraints of users promote the rise of shared solutions. Uber does not confirm for the moment any launching calendar in Europe, but the compatibility of the model with the urban issues of the old continent is manifest.
Pressure on Blablacar and local platforms?
Uber’s return to the shared transport segment is not directly targeting the long -distance carpooling offer of Blablacar, but reinforces the competitive pressure on niche actors positioned on urban carpoolinglike Klaxit (bought by Blablacar), Karos or Mobicoop.
These platforms, often backed by public partnerships or employer incentive devices, could see their weakened model if Uber manages to integrate Share route into the devices of subsidized mobility. This is one of the objectives displayed by the company, which seeks to have this service recognized as eligible for “switches to” in the United States.
More broadly, the prospect announced by Uber from a progressive transfer of these journeys to autonomous vehiclesin particular the vans ID Buzz from Volkswagen expected in Los Angeles in 2026, installs background competition around the control of large -scale shared urban flows.
