Here’s a very successful Oxford bus company doing something a little different:
PickMeUp is an on-demand ride-sharing minibus service. Download the app and tell us where you want your journey to begin. We’ll pick you up from a ‘virtual bus stop’ within a short walkable distance of where you are. The intelligent software works out the best way to take you and our other passengers to your chosen destinations.
Home : PickMeUp : Oxford Bus Company
Here’s the story of their success from the Oxford Mail from last month:
PickMeUp passengers enjoy first year of city’s app-based buses
BUSES summoned by passengers using an app have exceeded the expectations of managers marking the service’s first 12 months on city streets.
Oxford Bus Company‘s PickMeUp fleet has beaten all forecasts, providing more than 140,000 rides over the past year for the 25,000 passengers who have downloaded the app and registered to travel across Oxford. It is now carrying an average of nearly 4,000 passengers per week.
PickMeUp was the county’s first transport service of its kind when it was introduced in June last year, enabling passengers to request a minibus pick-up within 15 minutes at selected locations, using a mobile phone app.
READ AGAIN: Bus passenger PickMeUp service hits 10,000 mark
READ AGAIN: Oxford app-based bus service PickMeUp is expanding
With nearly 390,000 miles covered by the buses so far, the service actively contributes to reducing traffic, noise and carbon pollution in Oxford by cutting the number of cars on the road.
Oxford-based transport expert Hugh Jaeger said: “The more journey sharing builds up, the more sense it makes to have these minibus-sized vehicles. PickMeUp initially appealed to people working at the science park but other patterns of use have arisen, including passengers with awkward journeys to the hospitals.”
PickMeUp passengers enjoy first year of city’s app-based buses