Skip to main content

Ford’s decision to bin Chariot ride-share service came after ‘significant consideration’

Ford has given no explanation for the decision to abandon its ride-sharing shuttle service Chariot, but said it came after “significant consideration”. The service will stop operating on UK shuttle commuter routes tomorrow – after just a few months - and on US routes after 1 February. All Chariot services will cease completely by the end of March. A statement from the company gave little clue as to why: “In today’s mobility landscape, the wants and needs of customers and cities are changing rapidly. We a
January 24, 2019 Read time: 2 mins

278 Ford has given no explanation for the decision to abandon its ride-sharing %$Linker: 2 External <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-16"?><dictionary /> 0 0 0 link-external shuttle false http://www.itsinternational.com/categories/utc/news/chariot-shuttle-service-to-help-london-companies-cut-commutes/ false false%> service Chariot, but said it came after “significant consideration”.

The service will stop operating on UK shuttle commuter routes tomorrow – after just a few months - and on US routes after 1 February.

All Chariot services will cease completely by the end of March.

A statement from the company gave little clue as to why: “In today’s mobility landscape, the wants and needs of customers and cities are changing rapidly. We apologise for the inconvenience this may cause Chariot’s riders and our enterprise customers.”

Parent group Ford has been under pressure worldwide this year, posting significant losses outside of its heartland in North America.

The motor manufacturer recently announced thousands of job losses in Europe and said that it is worried about the effects of a so-called ‘hard Brexit’ if and when the UK leaves the 1816 European Union.

Chariot says it is committed to ensuring its customers are aware of the decision and have time to make alternative transportation arrangements, and promises to refund all remaining commuter credit balances.

UTC

Related Content

  • March 26, 2019
    Volvo to provide EV service at Birmingham airport
    Volvo Bus is to deliver six single-deck electric buses to serve as an environmentally-friendly transport service at Birmingham airport in the UK from October. Nick Barton, CEO at Birmingham Airport, says: “Since 2012 the Airport has reduced its CO2 by 20% per passenger. Implementing the six electric buses will work towards lowering our CO2 per passenger even further.” Volvo says its 7900e vehicles come with an electric motor and four high capacity 200 kWh Lithium-ion batteries, which means no tailpipe em
  • November 2, 2018
    Waymo gets California green light for public driverless tests
    Waymo has been granted a licence to test fully-driverless cars on public roads in California. It is the first company to be given the green light for such trials in the state – and it means there will be no test driver sitting in the driver’s seat. The permit includes day and night testing on city streets, rural roads and highways with speed limits of up to 65mph. Waymo insists: “Our vehicles can safely handle fog and light rain, and testing in those conditions is included in our permit. We will gradual
  • March 8, 2019
    London Science Museum hosts free driverless vehicle exhibition
    Autonomous vehicles (AVs) are at the heart of a new exhibition at the London Science Museum. Driverless: Who is in control? opens on 12 June and looks at “how close we are to living in a world driven by thinking machines”. Continuing until October 2020, the show examines themes familiar to ITS professionals wrestling with the legal, ethical and logistical issues around the introduction of driverless cars to public roads. The museum says it will focus on “how much of this seemingly futuristic technolog
  • February 25, 2019
    Stage Intelligence partners with Smovengo on Paris bike-share
    Artificial intelligence (AI) company Stage Intelligence has linked up with a consortium in a bid to make a Paris bike-share scheme more efficient. Stage is partnering with Smovengo – a grouping which consists of Smoove, Moventia, Mobivia and Park Indigo - to deploy its Bico AI optimisation platform across Smovengo’s Vélib bike-share system in the French capital. The company says its system allows users to collect, manage and visualise data and turn it into actionable insights; it has already been used in