UberHOP in Seattle Who, Why, and How?

UberHOP is a commute-focused interpretation of the Uber suite of transportation services, with the goal of reducing personal vehicle commute trips. The service first launched in Seattle, Washington, and Thronto, Ontario, Canada, in December 2015 and expanded to Manila, Philippines, in early 2016. UberHOP is similar to vanpooling with fixed pickup and drip-off locations in the primary commute direction during peak hours, but it leverages Uber's ridesourcing platform to replace fixed departure schedules with riders matched in real time. This paper reports on an intercept survey (83% response rate) to understand who rode, how they traveled to the pickup location, why they rode, and what modes UberHOP was replacing for all 11 UberHOP routes in Seattle during the morning and evening commute periods. In addition, detailed trip and total rider count data were collected during the survey administration process. The results show that many UberHOP riders made UberHOP their primary form of commute mode. Unlike standard ridesourcing services, UberHOP riders predominantly replaced public transportation modes rather than personal vehicles. UberHOP services were canceled in Seattle in August 2016. However. with larger rider densities per trip, the UberHOP model can be profitable. and it is reasonable to expect that Uber or others will resurrect a similar service in the future.