Ford’s on-demand bus service Chariot expands to Seattle
Chariot, the on-demand shuttle startup owned by Ford, is bringing its app-based, crowdsourced transit service to the traffic-choked streets of Seattle.
Chariot, which has been operating in San Francisco since 2014, is part of a recent trend of bus startups that use algorithms to develop transit routes based on user demand. Using the app, customers can book a seat in one of the company’s blue-and-white shuttle vans for around $4 a trip. It’s a cheaper but less convenient alternative to ride-hailing apps like Uber and Lyft. The company sold to Ford in 2016 for $65 million; a month later it expanded to Austin.
But the new transportation option won’t be immediately available to all Seattle…
