If one eventual use for these services is as a smart-routed bus of sorts, why can't one of the companies tackling Uber jump straight to that? Or at least make a serious experiment of it?
* Loup
* Leap
* Night School
My understanding is that Chariot is still operating and doing well, though.
On the left end would be a private, dedicated chauffer. (Or private helicopter for extreme left!) On the right end would be public transit or walking.
Putting transit options on the continuum would look like:
Private Chauffer -- Personal Car -- Taxi -- Livery/Lyft/Uber -- Lyft Line/UberPool -- Lyft Line + Hotspots -- <potential new bus-like offerings> -- public transit -- walking
My earlier comment on the continuum: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10122701
Perhaps one slight deviation in Lyft Line is is when other people being picked up by your car are running late [0].
0: Personal experience in SF in October.
FYI, the Lyft driver is supposed to wait no longer than one minute. If they wait longer than that, you can prod them to move on (or mention that in their review).
I spent this summer in SF and took a Lyft Line home every day. This was only an issue once, and the driver left after ~1 minute, so it didn't actually delay my ride at all.
The point is, in general, public transit routes are farther from your ideal route and schedule. Taxis and regular Uber/Lyft go direct, while Lyft Lines are in between, requiring some compromise on route and schedule (waiting for a match).
I've built a similar continuum for all of the taquerias in my neighborhood considering price and quality.