Eventually, after months of “re-imagining how my transport ideas, based on Uber, might work,” Carr took his idea to Uber, he tells Georgia Health News.
The company sent five engineers from its San Francisco headquarters to see what the Carrs were doing. Anne even made a batch of oatmeal raisin cookies to welcome them, she tells CNBC.
The engineers asked how they could make Uber more effective for Common Courtesy. Along with other input, the Carrs wanted to be able to use one phone to book and keep track of all the rides they were arranging.
Uber later asked Common Courtesy to beta test Uber Central, a dashboard that enables businesses “to request, manage and pay for multiple Uber rides on behalf of their customers,” according to Uber’s website. It launched wide in April.
Common Courtesy also added a partnership with Lyft.
Today the company schedules about 2400 trips per month in the Atlanta area, says Bob, and that number increases about 20 percent a month. It also has 30 “affiliated ‘chapters'” around the country according to Businessweek. They are helping to bring ride-sharing to a whole new market — one that really needs it.
Uber as a company may have some serious problems, but the Carrs are grateful for the service.
“We could not be doing what we are doing today without the ride share,” Anne tells CNBC. “We are indebted to Uber and Lyft and have a great close relationship with both of them.”
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