Helsinki's Uber for Buses Is Stuck in First Gear

At a time when everyone wants to be the Uber of something, the public transportation authority in Helsinki, Finland, can lay a better claim than most. For more than a year, anyone with a smartphone has been able to hail a city-run van that will pick up passengers at the public bus stop of their choice and drop them off across town. Ajelo, a local tech startup, has developed the dispatch system, and the city manages the vehicles. That means Ajelo hasn’t had to deal with the objections from local officials that Uber often faces, but the government’s cooperation has brought its own frustrations.

Although ridesharing is nothing new, Helsinki’s system, called Kutsuplus—Finnish for “call plus”—stands out for the scope of its ambition. Its fleet of vans roams the city while an algorithm fields calls that come in through an app. To add a new passenger, the system assesses which vehicles can handle it, then offers the passenger a choice of options within seconds. It also shows how long it would take to do the same trip using standard public transportation and offers the rider a call for a taxi.