Cities that turn to technology companies to save their transit systems are bound to be disappointed by the outcome. This article looks at Pinellas County, Fla., whose transit authority was the first in the country to supplement its bus service with taxpayer-subsidized rides from Uber in February, 2016.

Key findings

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In the first phase of authority’s Direct Connect program, only two Uber rides were ordered per day.

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The second phase extended the service, allowing passengers to get rides to or from one of eight designated locations across the county, but trips rose to only 40 per day by October 2017.

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The third phase expanded the number of designated locations to 24 which boosted ridership to 4,000 trips in September 2018, according to Uber. But Uber made a reporting error in giving the subsidy erroneously to customers ineligible to receive it, which inflated their ridership numbers 60 to 300 percent.

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