Uber, Fla.'s PSTA to pilot phone dispatch system

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Uber and the Pinellas Suncoast Transit Authority (PSTA) is experimenting with a telephone dispatch system that would allow people without smartphones to call a hotline and order an Uber ride, The Verge reports.

The call-in feature is part of a local program with PSTA that will grant publicly-subsidized Uber rides to low-income residents who do not have cars or easy access to the area’s bus-based public transit system.

In February, Pinellas County became the first transit agency in the country to subsidize Uber rides, as well as those from a local taxi service, to and from designated bus stations, in an attempt to make its transit system more accessible. For the full story, click here.