Mass transit startup Bridj is launching its data-informed commuting service to Washington, D.C. on Monday. The Boston-based startup first revealed that it would expand to D.C. in February, and now people who have expressed interest in being among the first to sign up will get a chance to try out the service, which describes as somewhere between Uber and public transportation. Bridj basically provides a private bus service in fancier than average mini-busses along routes determined by a combination of user votes and data analysis of where people are and where they want to go, adapting news routes over time as new data comes in. Here's the map of where Bridj will be traveling in D.C., at least at first.
The company had not actually intended to be quite so public about its D.C. debut just yet, but an eager fan spilled the beans on Twitter. You can see his tweet and the letter Bridj sent out below.
Who's. Now this awesome. Eager to be one of the first to try @bridj in DC! Hey, @washingtonpost check this out: pic.twitter.com/mqZUzW3OhB
— William Goodman (@goodmanw) April 22, 2015
Bridj is really aimed at those who might blame problems with WMATA and Uber surge pricing for their running late to work every day according to Bridj. It's a flat fee for each trip though, regardless of distance, and varying mainly based on how busy the service will be. The price will likely vary by market, but in Boston, it never gets above $5.
"You may live a block down from the train but work in an area that's harder to transfer to. On Bridj we can sort of connect those two points directly," said Bridj's marketing manager Ryan Kelly. "It's an express shuttle that will go straight there, making very few stops along the way."
Check out Bridj's video below to see how the system works in practice. If Bridj can alleviate the hassles of getting between Dupont Circle and Capitol Hill during rush hour, it's easy to see it becoming enormously popular, especially as the weather starts to heat up and commuting becomes both literally and figuratively stickier.
