Bridj coming to KC

Transportation topics in KC
TheBigChuckbowski
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Re: Bridj coming to KC

Post by TheBigChuckbowski »

I've got to say that I'm not really getting the routes. Starting from downtown, it will highlight some areas but not all areas of the overall coverage map. Even if I put in my destination in one of the highlighted areas, a lot of times, it says there's not coverage there. Eventually, if I do find a place that I can actually get to, it only gives me times in the afternoon.

It seems like it's only a service for people in the KU Med area and near East Side area commuting downtown. I get it if that's the focus but why not be able to carry people back the other way since the bus has to travel that direction anyway?
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Re: Bridj coming to KC

Post by DaveKCMO »

TheBigChuckbowski wrote:I've got to say that I'm not really getting the routes. Starting from downtown, it will highlight some areas but not all areas of the overall coverage map. Even if I put in my destination in one of the highlighted areas, a lot of times, it says there's not coverage there. Eventually, if I do find a place that I can actually get to, it only gives me times in the afternoon.

It seems like it's only a service for people in the KU Med area and near East Side area commuting downtown. I get it if that's the focus but why not be able to carry people back the other way since the bus has to travel that direction anyway?
the key here is that the routing is not dynamic yet. keep making requests that represent your actual trips.
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Re: Bridj coming to KC

Post by earthling »

I understand they want to start slow in focused areas but those areas are odd choices, especially since NE Side has decent bus service to downtown. Though NE side has the most dense zips in metro so wonder if that is what they based on. Tying seniors to medical centers and pharmacy/grocery stores would be good use of this service - the KU blob should probably cover more households than it shows. I thought tying households with poor transit service was point of service - to fill in gaps.

edit: So come to think of it, given they do highlight KU Med and Hospital Hill on map, that does seem to be the focus. And from NE Side (densest zips), it's difficult to get to Hospital Hill w/out transfers on bus. Still would expect KU blob to cover more households and Sun Fresh.
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Re: Bridj coming to KC

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earthling
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Re: Bridj coming to KC

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bobbyhawks
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Re: Bridj coming to KC

Post by bobbyhawks »

Has anyone been able to ride this around downtown without starting/ending at a medical center? The only times I've tried to use it, the app denies me access to pretty much all of downtown proper as a destination.
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AlbertHammond
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Re: Bridj coming to KC

Post by AlbertHammond »

Any updates from folks? Has anyone used Bridj?
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Re: Bridj coming to KC

Post by brewcrew1000 »

When I see this around town, its almost always empty
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Re: Bridj coming to KC

Post by auntbigdog »

AlbertHammond wrote:Any updates from folks? Has anyone used Bridj?
I used it for the first time a few weeks ago. Reserved my spot the night before for $1.50. It was definitely the cleanest transport I've ever used. I was the only passenger between KUMed and downtown, so the driver let me off right at my destination instead of the standard drop-off spot a couple of blocks away. He refused a tip.

The driver said Bridj had been really slow to take off, which worries me. I've been talking it up to my friends, none of whom had heard of it, because I want the service to continue. So please give it a shot! The service areas/times have improved from when it first started, so keep checking.
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Re: Bridj coming to KC

Post by bobbyhawks »

auntbigdog wrote:
AlbertHammond wrote:Any updates from folks? Has anyone used Bridj?
I used it for the first time a few weeks ago. Reserved my spot the night before for $1.50. It was definitely the cleanest transport I've ever used. I was the only passenger between KUMed and downtown, so the driver let me off right at my destination instead of the standard drop-off spot a couple of blocks away. He refused a tip.

The driver said Bridj had been really slow to take off, which worries me. I've been talking it up to my friends, none of whom had heard of it, because I want the service to continue. So please give it a shot! The service areas/times have improved from when it first started, so keep checking.
Good thing you were at a hospital to begin with. The location contingencies are really strange, and, unless you want to move your pin around until your destination is available, it is completely worthless from some locations. From the West side of the Westside, it only allows me to travel East of Paseo between 18th and Independence Avenue. I'm only now realizing that if I move the pin a few blocks (less than a 5 minute walk), I can add additional destinations, but that defeats the purpose of the app. The location-based and walk duration-based limitations are really holding it back in my opinion.
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Re: Bridj coming to KC

Post by bobbyhawks »

Is anyone aware of the current rumors regarding Bridj? I'm not sure if they pertain to our market, but they just released an email to address some of the rumors (which could more publicity stunt than response to leak). They also released an overview of their roadmap in the email:
Good morning!

I wanted to write a quick note to all of our customers, friends, and supporters to address some of the rumors that have been circulating at an accelerating pace this week about Bridj, as well as shed some light on what you can expect next from us. For those who haven’t been party to the speculation, many in the autonomous technology world have been speculating wildly about Bridj, after a small set of documents was inadvertently shared earlier in the week.

The rumors have varied widely, ranging from speculation on what type of autonomous urban services we’ll add to the Bridj platform, to conjecture around if we’re building an autonomous vehicle platform (and who we’re partnering with to do that). While there’s significant truth in most of the rumors, there’s equal amounts of inaccuracy. We’re going to address some of the speculation here, as we're big believers that you should hear what's true, and what's not confirmed directly from us rather than from a blogger. To make sure everyone’s on the same page here’s what we can and can not confirm:

What we are NOT able to confirm:

We can confirm that Bridj is entering into autonomous logistics partnerships with three national governments, as well as a much larger number of large city and mega-city local governments. While there’s been lots of speculation around what that involvement might look like, it wouldn’t be responsible for us to add to the conjecture before our government partners (of all sizes) officially announce their strategies. We can also confirm that we will be making an announcement about an alignment with an auto manufacturer in Q4 of this year. Contrary to some of the rumors, we have not made our final decision on partnerships quite yet.

Specifically, we are obviously not able to comment on the source of much of the speculation, referenced as Project Titan (Bridj Module 4). We expect to give some clarity around that project in an event in mid-2017. In the interim, we’re happy to quell some of the conjecture by announcing that we will begin to talk about + introduce Module 2 and Module 3 of Bridj service this year, both of which contain high degrees of autonomy and represent "first in the world" implementations.

What we ARE able to confirm:

As predicted by some of the rumors, we’re announcing here (but not to the press quite yet) that will be releasing a very limited portion of Birdj's second module to some users as soon as today. Bridj platform’s second Module, focusing on urban cargo logistics, is tentatively called BridjBOX. Following on the heels of the tremendous success of Module 1 (BridjTRANSIT), BridjBOX uses the Bridj urban autonomous logistics platform to intelligently (and in some areas autonomously) move bulk goods around the city. With the introduction of Module “2”, the Bridj platform is one step closer to providing complete autonomous logistics for the billions living cities.

To test our some of the basic parts of the platform, we’re opening a very limited section of the new module to some of you who live in certain sub-markets. When you order online or via mobile, the Bridj platform sources your items, and places them into the back of Bridj vehicles (bet you didn’t know that there is a highly modified cargo compartment in the back of each Bridj did you?). Just like we do with passengers, the Bridj platform calculates an intelligent drop off point for all the cargo, with a combination of humans and autonomous ground based delivery drones taking the items from the drop point right to your doorstep. For some of you, you’ll be able to order goods as soon as today for delivery by 11 pm tonight, and begin providing real-time feedback to our team.

While there will be more details for those of you who will be invited to the first round of trials, by using the service, all users agree not to discuss the platform with the press without letting us know first and consent to provide detailed feedback to our team around a few key delivery parameters. Additionally, all users who are included in any autonomous logistics efforts (autonomous delivery rover or another autonomous platform) will, of course, have the ability to opt out of autonomous delivery module. While we’re typically not a big fan of putting lots of rules around betas, this is only the second of our six modules that we’ll be releasing, and we want to be sure we get it right. If you haven’t received any email, you can also request access by clicking here.

While our team was disappointed that we weren’t able to tell some of you about our new programs first, I hope this note has provided some factual grounding to the rumors and a solid framework for you to join us in helping to create exponentially better cities for the billions who live within them.

Best,
MG

PS — We’re hoping this quells some of the irresponsible speculation that’s been happening, but if you have a crazy hunch about what we’re working on, feel free to reach out to a Bridj team member first to get a confirmation or denial before talking to the press. It helps everyone to only have accurate information out there!

PPS — To the one particularly insistent web sleuth, no, we are not building an autonomous urban air ship. That would be pretty cool though.

PPPS — We’re hiring market specific teams in Austin TX, San Francisco CA, Detroit MI, Western Europe (Berlin and Paris), and throughout LATAM. Shoot me a note if you know of someone truly exceptional who would raise the bar for our entire team.
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Re: Bridj coming to KC

Post by brewcrew1000 »

The rumor sounds like they are going to release self driving shuttle service with a 3 city gov'ts
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Re: Bridj coming to KC

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Last edited by pash on Tue Feb 14, 2017 8:03 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Bill Durban
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Re: Bridj coming to KC

Post by Bill Durban »

...and then again it might be a Bridj too far!
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Re: Bridj coming to KC

Post by bobbyhawks »

Bill Durban wrote:...and then again it might be a Bridj too far!
They also sent out a survey today to ask why I haven't actually ridden it yet, even though I have the app, so they are still trying to figure things out.
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Re: Bridj coming to KC

Post by earthling »

Bridj is testing BridjBox in KC and I just got an invitation. You can order basic home products/snacks/drinks and have delivered same day.

http://www.bridjbox.com/
BridjBOX will join BridjTRANSIT (which now has more commute market share in areas served than Uber and Lyft combined!) to leverage the Bridj platform to move massive amounts of physical goods throughout the city. Starting right now, you can place an order at BridjBOX.com, and as long as the order is placed by 4 pm, your order will be at your doorstep by 11 pm tonight, at a price exponentially lower than any other option on the market.
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Re: Bridj coming to KC

Post by earthling »

BTW, HyVee also delivers. Same price as stores with only $5 delivery fee or free delivery with orders over $100.

https://www.hy-vee.com/grocery/

Ben & Jerry's delivered...
https://www.hy-vee.com/grocery/search?s ... en%20jerry
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Re: Bridj coming to KC

Post by auntbigdog »

I got the BridjBOX invite too, although at the top of the site, it says:
BETA in Progress for customers with Boston, Brookline, and Cambridge addresses only.
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Re: Bridj coming to KC

Post by beautyfromashes »

earthling wrote:BTW, HyVee also delivers. Same price as stores with only $5 delivery fee or free delivery with orders over $100.
Not to DT.
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Re: Bridj coming to KC

Post by smh »

Cosentinos delivers.
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