Pittsburgh is one of four cities in the United States where Uber will debut a shuttle service this summer. A spokesperson for Uber told the Pittsburgh Business Times that the service will transport concertgoers to and from The Pavilion at Star Lake in Burgettstown.
"Imagine you've just experienced the concert of a lifetime but it's time to go home," Anthony Le Roux, general manager of Uber Shuttle, said during a product event. "Nothing will bring you back to reality faster than trying to manage the chaos of parking and pickups at the same time as you've got thousands of people pouring out of the stadium."
Star Lake is notorious when it comes to traffic and parking headaches for concertgoers, in part because it is only accessible by one road, PA-18. The venue has previously issued statements urging attendees to arrive up to six hours early for select, high-attendance performances.
Given the high demand for ride share services, Uber rides to and from large events are all but guaranteed to experience surge pricing, something that the shuttle service will not be impacted by. The service will transport between 14 and 55 people at a time and users are able to book up to five seats total up to seven days in advance. After reserving their seats users receive a QR code to scan when boarding the vehicle.
The spokesperson indicated that pickup and drop-off points will be announced closer to the launch of the service.
"We do expect Uber Shuttle to look a little different in different places," Le Roux said during the presentation. "In some cities we may provide first- and last-mile connections to and from local transit hubs to the concerts or sporting venues and in others we will do pickups and drop-offs from central locations in the city."
This summer, Star Lake will host performances from several notable artists including Cage the Elephant, the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Hozier, Kid Cudi and Tyler Childers.
The shuttle service is also being developed to transport people to and from airports. One of the other venues selected for the launch, Hard Rock Stadium in Miami, will feature the service for concerts and sporting events. Other venues selected were PNC Pavilion in Charlotte and Huntington Bank Pavilion in Chicago. All of the selected venues are LiveNation-owned venues.
