Car Service Uber Alles

When UBER.com Car Service premiered in Philadelphia last month, Josh Kopelman, highly regarded local IT entrepreneur and partner of First Round Capital was passenger Zero.

Aside from funding the nationwide online car service logistics start-up, Kopelman’s endorsement telegraphed a message to the marketplace…

Hey folks — here’s an elegant use of communications and logistics technology that can fundamentally improve the way things are done. In this case, UBER.com re-invents a key premium segment of the urban transportation model.

Instead of scurrying in all kinds of weather to hail cabs — all too few when you need them and sometimes less than entirely hospitable once you find one — just tap the UBER app your web-enabled portable device. As Kopelman puts it: ”in about 5 minutes a magic carpet arrives”. A private livery vehicle — towncar or premium SUV –- dispatched by UBER’s automated system.

Once the order for the car is placed, watch the car’s approach on a map display. The entire transaction is charged to a credit card on file and the average ride costs about 50 percent more than a regular cab. Livery vehicles eliminate 40 percent downtime, urban parking and traffic congestion are relieved, and millions of users across the country see the value-added in the extra expense.