Bridj was supposed to show the world “what happens when ride-hailing really meets public transit”—at least that’s how CityLab appraised the micro-transit service when it announced a pioneering partnership with Kansas City’s transit agency in 2015.
But the one-year pilot to draw booties into 14-seat vans routed by algorithm failed to catch on. Six months in, the vans had only provided fewer than 600 rides, far short of the 200 per day initially projected; promotion might not have been adequate, and riders complained the routes weren’t so convenient after all. Bridj had more success in Boston, where it first launched. But Bridj’s demise may have been triggered by the circumstances of its attempted acquisition: As my colleague Linda Poon reported on Monday, the company called it quits after a potential buyer, rumored to be Toyota, dropped out from extended ownership talks.
