As a traffic crisis becomes the new reality for metro Atlanta, Uber is launching Commuting Together, a campaign to do our part in helping commuters get to and from work while I-85 is being repaired. We are pledging to dedicate at least $5 million over the coming months to help keep prices low and encourage riders and drivers to help combat congestion.  

In this State of Emergency, our city leaders are urging commuters to carpool or take MARTA—and Uber is already making it easier for Atlanta residents to do both.

uberPOOL is the carpool version of Uber: You share a ride—and the fare—with another person who happens to be requesting a ride along a similar route at the same time. We recently expanded uberPOOL so that it is available almost everywhere in Atlanta, OTP and ITP.   

Uber is proud to partner with MARTA and complement public transportation—it’s a partnership that began organically with our riders. If your train or bus doesn’t get you all the way home, Uber will take you that last mile. In fact, Uber riders have taken hundreds of thousands of trips to or from MARTA stations over the last year.

By offering steep discounts on uberPOOL trips, with fares significantly less than uberX, it’s even more affordable for Atlantans to share their ride. As we begin our campaign this week, we’re specifically offering a 50% discount on all uberPOOL rides that begin or end at a MARTA station and a 25% discount on all uberPOOL rides in metro Atlanta. Both of these discounts will be available between the hours of 6-10 AM and 4-8 PM. This will be applied on top of our continued investments in uberPOOL, meaning that riders will enjoy prices up to 75% off the price of uberX.

Given the uncertainty the road closures and increased congestion creates for people behind the wheel, part of our $5 million commitment will go towards hourly fare guarantees for drivers. These hourly fare guarantees will help make the experience positive and rewarding for our partners—and ensure riders can get a reliable and affordable ride no matter how busy it is during rush hour. 

During this challenging time for the city, we’ll also be making a special effort to educate riders and drivers on how to use existing Uber features that make it easy to move around the city efficiently, such as Fare Split, Scheduled Rides, and Driver Destinations. Throughout, we’ll be doing our part to help keep everyone up-to-date on the latest road closures, detours, and other information from state and local officials.  

Our initial plan is just that—it’s the first step in what will be an evolving process for Uber and the City of Atlanta. We will continue to adapt these initiatives to the changing environment to help our driver-partners and their riders move around the city, and get creative with using our technology to help keep Atlanta moving.