*By Carlo Versano*
As Via celebrates five years since its founding in New York, the rideshare service ー a "glorified bus," in the words of the company's CEO ー is looking to new mobility solutions for its next phase of growth.
Via CEO and co-founder Daniel Ramot told Cheddar Wednesday that he is eyeing the scooter space, which has become a hot sector for rideshares that want to compete for multimodal commuters.
Beyond scooters, Ramot pointed to e-bikes, bicycles, mopeds all as worthy areas for exploration.
"They all work together really well," he said.
Via differentiates itself from services like Uber and Lyft by using "dynamic" platform and route-planning that makes it part bus, part taxi, Ramot said.
Riders are charged a flat fare and sometimes have to walk to specific pick-up points. In New York, 95 percent of Via rides are shared, Ramot said. One thousand routes a day in the Big Apple have at least five pick-ups, making Via more efficient than the carpool services offered by competitors. The company also claims to have saved 25 million pounds of CO2 over its lifespan.
Since its launch, Via has expanded to more than 20 international locations and is working with public transit authorities in cities like Berlin to integrate the service into the "fabric" of urban mass transit.
“We want to make Via a part of public transportation system in the cities in which we operate," Ramot said.
But the company is similar to its better-known competitors in one crucial way: it is strongly opposed to government caps on new rideshare vehicles.
Limits, like the one imposed in New York [in August](https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/08/nyregion/uber-vote-city-council-cap.html), "turn back time" to the days of taxi medallions and more expensive fares, according to Ramot. He said he expects the city's vehicle cap to negatively impact his company at a time when it's trying to expand and innovate.
For full interview [click here](https://cheddar.com/videos/via-celebrates-5-years-of-ride-sharing).
Nvidia on Wednesday became the first public company to reach a market capitalization of $5 trillion. The ravenous appetite for the Silicon Valley company’s chips is the main reason that the company’s stock price has increased so rapidly since early 2023.
Chris Williamson, Chief Business Economist at S&P Global, breaks down September’s CPI print and inflation trends, explaining what it means for markets.
A big-screen adaptation of the anime “Chainsaw Man” has topped the North American box office, beating a Springsteen biopic and “Black Phone 2.” The movie earned $17.25 million in the U.S. and Canada this weekend. “Black Phone 2” fell to second place with $13 million. Two new releases, the rom-com “Regretting You” and “Springsteen — Deliver Me From Nowhere,” earned $12.85 million and $9.1 million, respectively. “Chainsaw Man – The Movie: Reze Arc” is based on the manga series about a demon hunter. It's another win for Sony-owned Crunchyroll, which also released a “Demon Slayer” film last month that debuted to a record $70 million.
The Federal Aviation Administration says flights departing for Los Angeles International Airport were halted briefly due to a staffing shortage at a Southern California air traffic facility. The FAA issued a temporary ground stop at one of the world’s busiest airports on Sunday morning soon after U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy predicted that travelers would see more flights delayed as the nation’s air traffic controllers work without pay during the federal government shutdown. The hold on planes taking off for LAX lasted an hour and 45 minutes and didn't appear to cause continued problems. The FAA said staffing shortages also delayed planes headed to Washington, Chicago and Newark, New Jersey on Sunday.
