Why Uber In Addition To Lyft Desire To Utilization Walled Gardens–And Why It’S Bad For Urban Mobility

From FastCompany:

If you’re non a techie, you lot may non receive got come upward across the term “walled garden” before. But it’s a critical concept these days inward engineering scientific discipline trace concern strategy–and it has the potential to fundamentally modify the ways nosotros go throughout cities.

In essence, a walled garden is a unopen engineering scientific discipline platform that limits the data too options available to a user. If you lot receive got an Apple product, the concept volition hold upward familiar: In society to download a novel app to your iPhone, you lot must larn to Apple’s App Store. Apple “curates” the apps you lot tin terminate larn far the App Store, bringing about to your immediate attending spell forcing you lot to search for others. Apple likewise decides whether or non a novel app volition hold upward made available to you lot too the 500 meg other people who view the App Store every week. That gives Apple a lot of power, which tin terminate cause consternation or controversy when an app is rejected.

You tin terminate honor walled gardens inward products ranging from e-readers (Amazon Kindle) to social media (Facebook) to diverse video game consoles. For the outset time, the walled garden strategy is straight off existence applied to urban transportation, amongst ride-hail giants Uber too Lyft racing to add together novel mobility modes to their apps. In 2018, Uber has announced partnerships or acquisitions related to e-bike sharing (Jump), e-scooter share (Lime), and public transportation (Masabi). For its part, Lyft acquired populace wheel part operator Motivate, launched its ain e-scooter part service, too has started building new integrations amongst populace shipping into its app. The stakes are high; both companies–as good as China’s Didi Chuxing–want to evolve into walled gardens past times providing trip planning too ticketing for whatsoever urban trip a commuter powerfulness desire.

This is a sensible motion for the companies, every bit they tin terminate protect themselves from the endangerment that modes similar e-scooters too e-bikes cannibalize their gist ride-hail service. Better yet, they could attract novel users to their gist ride-hail services. If you lot currently role the app of a populace bike-share organisation inward Washington, D.C., New York, Chicago, Portland, or Columbus—all of which are operated past times Motivate, late acquired past times Lyft—odds are high you’ll shortly encounter integrations amongst the Lyft app (there is close no gamble you’ll encounter such integrations amongst Uber)....MUCH MORE