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SEPTA to partner with Uber, providing 40% discounts on Uber Rides to select Regional Rail Stations


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SEPTA announced a 14-week pilot program with Uber to provide discounted rides to and from 11 of SEPTA’s regional rail stations.


The transportation providers held a press conference today at SEPTA’s Jenkintown-Wyncote Station, which was still getting the final touches on recent rehabilitation work.


Riders who take Uber either to or from certain SEPTA regional rail stations will receive a 40 percent discount on their trip (up to a maximum discount of $10 per trip), which will be applied after the trip ends. The stations in the promotion are: Glenside, Jenkintown-Wyncote, Elkins Park, Melrose Park, Warminster, Doylestown, Lansdale, Woodbourne, Swarthmore, Wayne and Exton. In exchange, SEPTA is providing Uber with advertising space in its stations and on its trains. No money is exchanging hands.


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I don't get it.  Why are they encouraging people to use Uber to get to these stations?  Doesn't SEPTA offer its own transportation to them?

The stations in the pilot program have chronic parking problems so they are hoping that people will get an Uber to/from the station instead of their car.

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The stations in the pilot program have chronic parking problems so they are hoping that people will get an Uber to/from the station instead of their car.

This is stupid.  They would be better off analyzing where people come from and running shuttle buses accordingly.  We have the same problem at our Metro-North stations, and the Hudson Rail Link program has been very successful.

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This is stupid.  They would be better off analyzing where people come from and running shuttle buses accordingly.  We have the same problem at our Metro-North stations, and the Hudson Rail Link program has been very successful.

Either the service won't pass whatever guideline SEPTA has on farebox recovery and ridership levels, or they don't have the resources to do so, or both. Some stations already have bus service, so I believe those people don't want to/don't like to take bus.

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This is stupid.  They would be better off analyzing where people come from and running shuttle buses accordingly.  We have the same problem at our Metro-North stations, and the Hudson Rail Link program has been very successful.

They tried that in the late 90's early 2000's. Other than a few routes that are still around, it failed miserably.

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Either the service won't pass whatever guideline SEPTA has on farebox recovery and ridership levels, or they don't have the resources to do so, or both. Some stations already have bus service, so I believe those people don't want to/don't like to take bus.

 

 

They tried that in the late 90's early 2000's. Other than a few routes that are still around, it failed miserably.

I just read the entire article, and I guess this is worth a shot, but if these people are so tied to their cars, Uber won't make much of a difference either.  I think they need to understand their riders more.  There are three sets of the riders:

 

-Ones that are extremely frugal (the ones that will use the cheapest service possible (i.e. subway or local bus)

-The ones that generally use the premier services overall

-The ones that use the premier services to and from their car at all costs.  We had these types on Staten Island. They wouldn't drive into Manhattan, but once they got off of the express bus, they wouldn't be caught dead EVER using a local bus.  They would call up their husband or wife and make arrangements to be picked up somewhere if all else failed, but they would NOT use a taxi or local bus.

 

I get the impression that many of these riders fall into #3, and even Uber wouldn't work for them.  It's a premium service, but their thinking is why should I take Uber when I can simply drive in the luxury of my own car?  If you tried to penalize these people by charging more for parking, they would raise hell and consider driving in.

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