New NYC Riding App Offers $4 Shuttle Rides

LOWER EAST SIDE, NY — The newest ride-sharing company coming to New York will offer $4 shuttle rides in certain Manhattan and Brooklyn neighborhoods, and is set to launch next week.

Chariot, a ride-sharing company from Ford, will start running in New York City in August, initially available from Midtown to the Lower East Side in Manhattan and from Greenpoint to Dumbo in Brooklyn.

Chariot is yet another Uber competitor to arrive in the city, joining app-based ride-sharing options like Lyft, Gett and Juno. Chariot, however, works a little differently: Instead of drivers relying on their own cars, all Chariot vehicles are 14-seat Ford vans. The company says 60 vans will be launching during their trial period in New York next month, according to Crain's New York, which was first to report news of the expansion. (For more information on this and other neighborhood stories, subscribe to Patch to receive daily newsletters and breaking news alerts.)

Chariot's CEO and founder Ali Vahabzadeh has posited the service as a partial solution to the city's ongoing transit crisis; an affordable option that can help alleviate overcrowded subway lines or bring service to transit deserts.

"The existing subway and bus lines are already overcrowded, especially during rush hour," Vahabzadeh told Crain's. "Overnight, [Chariot] can supply mass transit that is available to the vast majority of New Yorkers because of our $4 rate."

Currently, Chariot is only available for rides during the morning and evening rush hours: From 6:30 to 10 a.m. and from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m., Mondays through Fridays, according to its website.

The Manhattan route runs from the intersection of Avenue C and Houston Street to Madison Avenue and 42nd Street. The Brooklyn route begins at the intersection of Franklin and Green streets in Greenpoint and ends at Water and Bridge streets in Dumbo. You can view each route's stops here.

Chariot was initially launched in San Francisco in 2014.

The company says that New Yorkers can nominate new routes and service areas online. A Chariot representative did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Patch seeking more information about when the company might expand routes in New York City.

Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images. Photo caption: Mark Fields, President and CEO of Ford, speaks about Chariot transit service which was purchased by Ford at the North American International Auto Show (NAIAS) on January 9, 2017 in Detroit, Michigan.