*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).
A moon landing attempt by a private US company appears doomed because of a fuel leak on the newly launched spacecraft. Astrobotic Technology managed to orient the lander toward the sun Monday so its solar panel could capture sunlight and charge its onboard battery.
Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has announced that 100,000 businesses have signed up for a new database that collects ownership information intended to help unmask shell company owners. Yellen says the database will send the message that “the United States is not a haven for dirty money.”
A new version of the federal student aid application known as the FAFSA is available for the 2024-2025 school year, but only on a limited basis as the U.S. Department of Education works on a redesign meant to make it easier to apply.
A steep budget deficit caused by plummeting tax revenues and escalating school voucher costs will be in focus Monday as Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs and the Republican-controlled Arizona Legislature return for a new session at the state Capitol.
The first U.S. lunar lander in more than 50 years is on its way to the moon. The private lander from Astrobotic Technology blasted off Monday from Cape Canaveral, Florida, catching a ride on United Launch Alliance's brand new rocket Vulcan.
Global prices for food commodities like grain and vegetable oil fell last year from record highs in 2022, when Russia’s war in Ukraine, drought and other factors helped worsen hunger worldwide, the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization said Friday.
Wall Street is drifting higher after reports showed the job market remains solid, but key parts of the economy still don’t look like they’re overheating.
The Biden administration is docking more than $2 million in payments to student loan servicers that failed to send billing statements on time after the end of a pandemic payment freeze.
The nation’s employers added a robust 216,000 jobs last month, the latest sign that the American job market remains resilient even in the face of sharply higher interest rates.
A U.S. labor agency has accused SpaceX of unlawfully firing employees who penned an open letter critical of CEO Elon Musk and creating an impression that worker activities were under surveillance by the rocket ship company.
