The platform bicycle rack at 22nd St will probably never go away, constituting a "white whale" piece of infrastructure. It is a vestigial organ of the station, servicing a (nearly) non-existent and fanciful need, a hallmark of the station's inaccessibility.

Thankfully, alternatives exist - there are bicycle hangars and racks at the street level, which, in my experience, see far more use.

There are no at-grade pedestrian crossings at the platform level. You will have to climb the stairs to the street level, then amble over to the SB side, take the stairs back down to the platform level, unlock your bike, and then carry it back up the steps to the street level.

Suppose that you park your bicycle at the SB platform level. Unless you take a separate mode of transportation to 22nd for your return journey, you will take a NB train back.

First off, the 22nd St station is famously inaccessible. You have to negotiate stairs if you want to board the trains here. Despite this, it is one of the most used Caltrain stations in the system. Bikers still elect to board here (myself included) by CX'ing our bikes up and down a flight of stairs.

Champaign-Urbana and its MSA punch above its weight. The CUMTD runs frequent bus service on lines (headways ≤ 10 mins) circling the university.

It's the orange area south of Chicago, one of the few places in the country with a transit commuter modeshare.

Especially when she makes that hairpin turn up Market ❤️

POLIC_
Y before E especially after C.

Excited for this one!

Central Subway opening (finally!)

Suppose that demand for airport rides fell by 30% in the most recent quarter. That would be enough for the company to post a net loss (instead of a profit).

It should come as no surprise that Uber (and other TNCs for that matter) will continue its airport rides ad blitz.

Airport rides will remain material to Uber's business. Presently, one out of every 16 dollars (~6.6%) of the firm's total revenue is attributable to airport rides.

With more and more large airports adding rail links, what will be the fate of airport rides? It's hard to say, but their growth is strongly correlated with the future of air travel. The proliferation of public transit connections won't dent demand for airport rides alone.

We discussed LAX above. All other urban areas have rail links (except for New York's LaGuardia) and São Paulo's Guarulhos (GRU) nearby CPTM station will be connected with an automated people mover next April.

While it is not disclosed that these 5 cities originate the most airport rides, rides within these urban areas constitute 22% of all Uber GBV.

Uber's five largest urban markets are
🇺🇸 New York
🇺🇸 Chicago
🇺🇸 Los Angeles
🇬🇧 London
🇧🇷 São Paulo

Using the FAA's definition of "large hubs", we have 31 American airports responsible for moving 70%+ of all passenger traffic. 19 of these airports have rail links, and the largest airport without a rail link (LAX), will integrate one late next year.

Public transportation modes pose a threat to Uber's business model. They mention it 7 times in their most recent 10-K in the context of a material risk factor.

I will project that they will eclipse $10B+ of GBV in airport rides by EOY, especially since Q4 seasonally boosts trips.