Have you ever wondered how Uber is planning for the future? Today, I interview Andrew Salzberg, head of Transportation Policy and Research at Uber. We cover everything from Uber’s upcoming partnerships with cities like Cincinnati, transportation infrastructure as cities continue to grow, plus electric cars. If you’ve ever been curious about how Uber plans for the future, you don’t want to miss this episode.
If you’d like to read a transcript of this podcast, please click here.
Intro
- As Uber continues to grow, they’re starting to face interesting challenges with congestion and urban planning
- Today I’ll be speaking with Andrew Salzberg, head of Transportation Policy and Research at Uber. He’s overseen some pretty big projects, including Cincinnati Mobility Lab, bike share, work on sustainable cities and more
- We’ll be talking about these initiatives and others Uber is working on, so you’ll want to stay tuned to hear what Uber is planning in the future
- I have some exciting news! I wrote a book – The Rideshare Guide. It’s a book for really anyone from new drivers to people who’ve been driving for a while, and it’s meant to be a book you can skip around and find what you’re looking for. The book comes out on April 24th, 2018 and you can find out more about it here
Interview with Andrew Salzberg
- As Uber’s head of Transportation Policy and Research, Andrew focuses on making Uber a part of the future of urban transportation through research and policy development
- He joined Uber in 2013 and became the Senior Operations Manager for New York City, Uber’s largest global market before joining the global policy team
- For those who are interested in transportation and infrastructure, Uber gives them a chance to work on research and policy that moves quickly
- At first Uber was a small service but now people are starting to replace their cars or at least reduce the amount they drive and are taking Uber instead
The Future of Urban Transportation
- In most cases public transportation like the bus is a very efficient way to get people around, but not everyone lives in big cities and it’s also efficient to have a car – it’s more of a balancing act than most people realize
- Uber is partnering with cities to identify challenges and alleviate traffic/congestion issues, like with the Cincinnati Mobility Lab
- Also partnering with cities that don’t essentially even have transit systems to identify issues and how Uber can be part of the solution
What Will the City of the Future Look Like?
- We know we don’t want to turn cities into parking lots, but as cities grow (in numbers of people), where do the cars go? Right now, most cars sit empty 95% of the day – how can Uber work with cities to address that?
- Addressing ‘curb space’ – the inability of drivers to wait at a designated curb space and pick up riders
- Uber is working with cities to pilot and test different programs
Shared Electric Mobility
- Uber isn’t just cars – also partnered with JUMP Bikes
- For very short rides, people can use electric shared mobility, like bikes or scooters
- Working on app partnerships with cities to make it easier for passengers to have seamless service
- The magical vision is zero emissions and seamless, but between now and then there is a lot of work to be done – it’s not overnight
Outro
- Big thank you to Andrew Salzberg for coming on and sharing his thoughts on Uber, the future of transportation, electric mobility and so much more
- It’s so interesting to see what Andrew and his team at Uber are working on, the partnerships they have, and the future for Uber and drivers
- We only briefly talked about it, but I’m excited to see more about the electric vehicle partnership Uber is looking into
- Want to win a copy of The Rideshare Guide? Leave a review of this podcast in the iTunes story and I’ll pick 5 winners!
- You can also go to therideshareguy.com/iTunes to get to the podcast and then send me an email, harry@therideshareguy.com with the subject line “book giveaway” and in the body of that email, include a screen shot of the review that you left
- Follow me on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube and you can always contact me if you have questions – I like to hear from you all!
Show Notes
- Under the Hood [to learn more about Andrew and what his team is working on]
- Cincinnati Mobility Lab
- JUMP Bikes
- Subscribe to iTunes and never miss an episode!
- Connect with me on Twitter
If you’d like to read a transcript of this podcast, please click here.
What did you think of this episode? Let me know!
-Harry @ RSG
