Transportation

Why UberX Will Win in the End

Transportation network companies mirror early 20th century jitneys — except this time they'll survive.
AP

A few times a year I head to Los Angeles (more specifically, Glendale) to visit my grandmother. Each trip begins with the same burst of enthusiasm — I will finally appreciate L.A.'s urban form as something more thoughtful than the random spray of an exploded water balloon — and ends shortly after I land at LAX and realize that without access to a car the city eludes me. But my last trip was different.

After finishing dinner at my grandmother's house, I texted a friend about meeting in Silver Lake. Normally we slip into our roles as transit-ready New Yorker and car-ready Angelino: I offer to take the bus, and he volunteers to pick me up. Only this time his offer was different: "Why don't you just UberX it?"