For the people who are confused (I was) between uberPOOL, uberHOP and uberCOMMUTE:
uberPOOL most will know matches a rider real-time with another one heading in the same direction. The riders split the cost between them.
uberHOP is like a bus service - uses designated pickup locations and matches people going on similar routes. It costs riders a flat fee of $5 for each ride.
Difference between uberHOP & uberPOOL - uberPOOL does not require riders to walk to pre-determined locations, instead having drivers pick up passengers at their exact location. The cost is variable and not a flat fee. For uberHOP riders have to walk to a predetermined spot (something like a bus stop).
uberCOMMUTE is less formal than the other two carpooling options and is designed for everyday people (ex. an office goer) that want to share space in their car. In other words, one temporarily becomes an uber driver when they are driving to their office. On their way to office a person can pickup passengers and gets compensated for that.
For passengers, it’s Uber as usual. They simply input their destination and then uber matches them with a driver going the same way.
Comparative descriptions like this are a great way to describe products. It's too bad most companies publish new products with a presumption the reader is closely familiar with the existing products/business to make their own comparison.
They really should start with how the new products fits into the greater scheme of the companies offerings, so we can all have a clear mental-model of why it makes sense and when I might want to use it.
Curse-of-knowledge and last-minute rushed blog posts after a product launch is probably why it's so common. Or maybe making the assumption since it's being posted on the company blog that the average blog reader is better informed than the homepage - which is rarely the case.
>Comparative descriptions like this are a great way to describe products. It's too bad most companies publish new products with a presumption the reader is closely familiar with the existing products/business to make their own comparison.
I tend to read this behavior oppositely: they're not assuming you have the knowledge, they're hoping you don't, and obscuring the similarity to existing products that they might seem inferior to when framed as competitors for the same use case.
"Hey, UberHOP is just Lyft Lines + hotspots with an extra requirement that they hit more stops off my route..."
uberPOOL most will know matches a rider real-time with another one heading in the same direction. The riders split the cost between them.
uberHOP is like a bus service - uses designated pickup locations and matches people going on similar routes. It costs riders a flat fee of $5 for each ride. Difference between uberHOP & uberPOOL - uberPOOL does not require riders to walk to pre-determined locations, instead having drivers pick up passengers at their exact location. The cost is variable and not a flat fee. For uberHOP riders have to walk to a predetermined spot (something like a bus stop).
uberCOMMUTE is less formal than the other two carpooling options and is designed for everyday people (ex. an office goer) that want to share space in their car. In other words, one temporarily becomes an uber driver when they are driving to their office. On their way to office a person can pickup passengers and gets compensated for that. For passengers, it’s Uber as usual. They simply input their destination and then uber matches them with a driver going the same way.