More butts in fewer cars: that’s the idea behind carpooling. It’s why we launched uberPOOL in Chicago last fall, and our uberCOMMUTE pilot in December.

• uberPOOL enables riders going in the same direction at the same time to share their journey.
• uberCOMMUTE enables commuters who drive themselves to work to share their journey and recoup some of their costs.

Today we’re excited to announce improvements to both products.

uberPOOL
At the moment uberPOOL is a separate service in the app, just like UberBLACK and uberX. This makes it hard for riders to see exactly how much they will save by carpooling because they cannot compare the cost of a shared ride with a solo trip.

So starting today passengers looking for the lowest cost ride can simply select uberX and get the choice of a “shared ride” or “your own car”, with an estimated price for each. This will help people better understand the difference in price, increasing the incentive to carpool.

uberCOMMUTE Pilot
It’s clear that many passengers would be happy to share their journey with a fellow commuter who drives to work. But our app today only matches passengers who select uberPOOL with a commuter driver using uberCOMMUTE.

Starting today, uberX passengers will be able to travel with commuter drivers whether they want to travel solo or carpool. Here’s how it will work:

• Select the uberX option in the app. Enter your pickup location and destination as well as the number of seats needed.
• To travel solo select “Your Own Car”. If you are happy to share the journey with other passengers choose “Shared Ride”.
• In either case, we’ll pair you with a commuter driver or an uberX driver, whomever is closer. And if you choose “Shared Ride” expect to share your journey with another passenger as well.
• Just as before passengers will only ever be paired with a commuter driver once they have opted into our pilot.

The Chicago area has a real and growing congestion problem. I-90 currently owns the title of the “nation’s worst bottleneck,” costing residents 16.9 million hours of wasted time and a staggering $418 million in lost productivity per year. When it comes to cutting congestion and pollution in Chicago, technology is an important part of the solution. By making it easier and more convenient for people going in the same direction at the same time to share the journey, as well as the cost of the ride, smartphone apps like Uber can improve everyone’s quality of life.

If you are interested in becoming a commute driver so you can recoup some of the costs of your travel, visit uber.com/COMMUTE to learn how.