Towncar-on-call service Uber just released a new version of their smart phone app, Uber 2.0 (Android), and with luck it’ll inspire the people working on car-share service Zipcar‘s app, because the difference is remarkable. You get a sense of priority when you notice that Zipcar doesn’t link to their app on their home page.
Uber version 1.0 was already pretty feature-rich to begin with, compared to any number of non-existent taxi apps. (Yes, admittedly, there is TaxiMagic.)
Once you entered your account information (it allowed you to include multiple credit cards, for personal and business trips) and set your tip rate, you really only dealt with the map screen that allowed you to set your pick-up location and choice of Uber (black towncar or SUV). You also saw an estimate of time until pick-up from the nearest car.
Bare bones, but it did what it needed to on the backend — a text alerted you when the car was arriving (if you weren’t watching its progress live on the map) and when you arrived at your destination, you got a receipt and a chance to rate your driver’s service.
In the Uber 2.0 update, the first thing you notice is the clean design and incredibly responsive map animation, which now includes the real-time location of all Ubers in your vicinity — including which direction they’re headed — making it look like you’re playing a game of Battleship.
But now you can also enter your destination ahead of time, and get an estimate on your trip’s cost (with an explanation of the bite provided by Surge Pricing during peak demand).
Besides automatically remembering your most common pick-ups and destinations, the app is now tied in with the foursquare database, allowing you to type in the name of the bar you plan to stumble out of.
It is common to include a disclaimer on Uber, that it’s “more expensive” than a cab, but at least in Seattle, you get your money’s worth. I find that, as taxi fares go up, Uber represents a better deal in terms of time spent and reliability. (You’ve spent 10 minutes on hold waiting for the taxi dispatcher, yes? You’ve had a taxi fail to show up? You’ve had no cash on hand and hoped the cab you waved down took plastic without grumbling too much?)
The trips I take (usually Capitol Hill to downtown, or Queen Anne) run between $15 and $25 — about $3 or $4 more total than a taxi. This app alone is worth that.
And then…there’s Zipcar’s app, which I still can’t find a link to on their site (here it is on iTunes). Their version 3.3 app allows you to reserve cars days in advance, and to choose the model of car (21 choices). Let’s try that: BMX 328xi. “No cars found.” No, there wouldn’t be. Zipcar doesn’t have nearly enough cars for that functionality to be useful. The best they should offer, really, is econo, mid-size, full-size, pick-up, and van — or cheapest to most expensive, and vice versa. (They do offer more cargo vans these days, which go for about $16 per hour.)
Other than that, the song remains the same. There is no billing options on the app. You can’t visit your account — all you can see are existing reservations, which do include a cost estimate. The previous incarnation had trouble finding me if I wasn’t using my default location, and cycled endlessly — thankfully that seems to have been fixed. I have never been able to lock and unlock a Zipcar using the app, as, though I am logged in, it requests a PIN I have no knowledge of. You can’t favorite a car.
The design — the less said, the better. It’s just not optimized for someone fumbling with their phone in the rain. Inputting the desired reservation times requires care, and the display of cars in your area applies a dark gray over the light gray that signifies they are already reserved.
What the app has been good for, mainly, is the ability to update your reservation, to extend it that 30 minutes you invariably need while trapped in Seattle traffic. (15 minutes isn’t possible. Why? Because. No, you don’t get credit for returning a car 25 minutes early because you didn’t want to be 5 minutes late.)
Which returns us to the value of a smart phone app — what problems is it solving? Uber’s app, specifically, already solved that feeling of being stranded (for whatever reason: weather, ignorance, the late hour, sketchy street) by putting you into real-time contact with your driver. The trip-cost estimate solves the budget question.
Zipcar’s app, as membership has grown, is turning into a way to see all the cars you can’t use right now. It has no fuzziness (nearest cars available now, in 30 min., in 1 hour). It doesn’t alert you to either peak demand or peak availability. The last time I used Zipcar, the closest available at that moment (10 a.m. on a Monday) was three-quarters of a mile away, about a 15-minute walk. It was raining, yes.
