Summit Votes To Partner With Uber For Commuter 'Virtual Garage' Program

Summit City Council voted unanimously on Sept. 6 to approve a partnership with ride sharing service Uber to create a pilot "virtual garage" program for commuters.

The program is designed to alleviate the parking congestion in downtown Summit, where the amount of New York City commuters parking to catch the train to Manhattan has left little left for employees and customers of Summit businesses.

“One of the ways we’re trying to deal with [the lack of parking] is having those who go in the morning to work in New York City, who park their car and use up a space [...] were trying to get them not to do that,” Councilman David Naidu said.

Instead, those commuters could chose to take a city subsidized Uber to and from the train station. By no longer having these so-called “station cars” taking spots in downtown Summit, there will be more parking for those patronizing local businesses.

The program is designed to cost commuters $88 monthly, the same cost as a monthly parking pass. The government’s portion of the trip’s cost will come from the parking utilities fund, which is funded by the purchase of parking passes. How much Summit will contribute depends on how many users sign up, with the goal of 100 people in the pilot period.

The pilot program is scheduled to last six months, but will include an opt-out clause for the city, as well as giving the city management over the partnership. Uber will be required to promote the program to the public.

“We’ll see if it works. We don’t know. This is why it’s a six month pilot program; there are things that will have to be determined,” Naidu said.

Josh Gold, senior public policy manager for Uber echoed that a commuter program is new for the company. “We’re a brand new company, and some of these partnerships are really new, and this is one that can really be called a first in the nation,” Gold told the council.

Summit previously partnered with Uber to offer $5 flat rate rides within city limits during the holiday season. Other Uber-township partnerships in New Jersey have generally been to combat drunk driving in towns in the southern part of the state.

When asked how the city would judge the pilot periods success, City Administrator Michael Rogers offer this as one measure: "When you hear stories of people saying, ‘wow, parking is a little bit easier these days,’ I think that will an indicator of success of this.”

Image via radcliffe dacanay, flickr.