Articles tagged “ride-sharing”

Organizations don’t seem prepared to incur additional costs to achieve more sustainable travel outcomes — but that’s not what most are saying publicly.

Come for the rides, stay for the food. Dara Khosrowshahi joined Uber as CEO when ridehailing was everything. Now he's navigating a multi-product approach. Yet when it comes to profits, Uber's still en route.

Despite the pandemic, BlaBlaCar served 50 million passengers in carpools or buses in 2020, which shows remarkable resilience. The French startup has aggressive plans to create a rail service, debut a travel booking app for travelers, and expand its bus network much farther outside of Europe.

The democratization of travel in the U.S. has led to a smaller share of spending on cars and transportation over the last 30 years. It's disheartening, though, that transportation costs still account for the second largest spending bucket for U.S. residents.

Khosrowshahi takes over a unicorn in Uber and will have the challenge of his life to get the ride-share company speeding along and toward an IPO with a trunk-full of controversies and problems. The choice of the next Expedia CEO to succeed him is indeed a critical one that will have far-reaching implications.

It's clear that Travis Kalanick, the embattled Uber co-founder and CEO, needs to go. Whether the board can push him out, given Kalanick's stake and leverage in the company, is another question.

Even if its growth has slowed gradually, Uber still has a huge advantage over its rivals in corporate travel. Its global scale, as well, bodes well for Uber continuing to grow as an option for international business travelers.

If young business travelers are making ride-sharing and home-sharing part of their routine, it's only a matter of time before the alternative options become mainstream.

Travel companies have an economic self-interest in reversing the travel ban and maintaining the relatively free flow of visitors. But, in the current political climate, they obviously feel that the issues involved are important enough to risk stepping into the line of fire.