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ViaVan launches in London with £3 Zone 1 rides

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ViaVan, a joint venture between Mercedes-Benz and US start-up Via, has launched in its ‘shared journey’ service in London.

From what I can gather, it is basically ‘UberPOOL with a minibus’.

A ViaVan will be heading in roughly one direction, say from Wimbledon to Central London, and will pick up people from ‘near’ their homes or wherever they are along the way.  Each passenger will be dropped off ‘near’ their final destination.

All rides will be shared.  The upside is very aggressive pricing – during the launch period, all rides inside Zone 1 will be priced at a flat £3.

I am pretty sure that this is not a service for me, but you may think differently.  There isn’t much of a website – see here – but full details are in the app.

Comments (56)

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.

  • bk3day says:

    IME, the VIA service in NYC (ridewithvia.com) is far superior to Uber Pool or Lyft Line.

    VIA’s rates are markedly cheaper, the arrival time estimates more accurate and more often than not, on my routes, I’m the only passenger. Of course, every route is different so YMMV.

    • Joe says:

      Echo similar for chicago and like the fact you get an accurate pick up time before you order (1-7 minutes makes a differendde when you use daily). It doesnr show if you are picking anyone else up or the route in the app tho which is frstrating

  • Pascal says:

    I’m using ViaVan since it launched 1.5 weeks ago almost every day. (why not going to work with it for the same cost as tube)

    I never had to share yet in around 20 rides. So currently you have it all private due to low usage and them figuring the tech out.

    You also get £20 credit with a referral, so lots of driving around for free. Is it OK to post mine? If not feel free to edit Rob:
    Pascal6h8 for £20 credit to use for the £3 rides.

    • Crafty says:

      I’ve tried to use your code but it’s being rejected, sorry.

    • N says:

      Hope i can throw mine into the mix if it’s OK?

      nidal8r8

    • Aeronaut says:

      @Pascal

      “I’m using ViaVan since it launched 1.5 weeks ago almost every day. (why not going to work with it for the same cost as tube)”

      Because it’s not as fast, gets stuck in traffic, indeed contributes to more traffic…

  • Tony says:

    Re: AA transfer offer
    Does a transfer of hotel miles reset the expiry of your existing miles with AA?
    The T&Cs don’t seem clear, they talk about accruing mileage credit with participating hotels but not direct transfers

  • VP says:

    OT: Got a message yesterday around 20h that our early morning KLM flight to AMS from LCY has been cancelled. However, we saw it only around 23h and by then they had booked us on LCY-FRA-AMS arriving at AMS 6 hrs after our original flight. Checked their customer service number and my heart sank when all that was available was their social media team number for Whatsapp/Twitter etc. Sent them a message on whats app that we prefer direct flight and don’t mind flying from LHR and also specified the flight that suits us (still arriving 5 hrs after originally scheduled time but at least no change involved), had absolutely no hopes but lo and behold within 30 mins we received new tickets on the flight I had specified. While the original cancellation still sucks, am really impressed with their social media customer care team and if flying Skyteam will be more than happy to book KLM.

    • JK says:

      You should be able to claim EU compensation too

      • VP says:

        I do plan to submit a claim for it. As we have PP currently in Sky Team Lounge in T4. Was pleasantly surprised to be informed that they offer 20 mins complementary facial treatment in Clairns Spa ! Also got some free samples after the facial. It was in a proper cabin with a proper door with soothing music in background while you lay down flat on their massage chair so all in all a very good outcome for a lounge accessed via PP.

  • VP says:

    Another OT: Apologies for my OT’s but this may be helpful to some readers. Had booked a stay in IC Estoril via Amex Plat FHR. Absolutely recommend the hotel and FHR. As Rob(or was it Annika?) has reviewed the hotel, will mention the FHR bit. The FHR rate was 60 Euros more than the cheapest non-refundable, w/o breakfast rate, so for 60 Euros we got room upgrade from garden view to sea view, breakfast for 2, late checkout at 16h (extended to 18h on request), and lunch/dinner. The FHR welcome sheet I received mentioned $100 of F&B credit, however, in the restaurant we were told it includes 2 starters, 2 mains, 2 desserts with any number of soft drinks. The hotel (as seem to be the norm in Portugal) charges for bread, butter, appetisers and these are not taken off however they took out items totalling c.$110 in the final bill so we had to pay $7-8 for the bread and appetiser. So depending on what you order you can get even more value than the $100 credit mentioned in FHR. If possible would suggest having lunch (or early dinner in summer) when you still have daylight as the views are gorgeous. We definitely plan to return to this hotel in future.

    On the same tour, we had also booked IC Porto on points and took the Club package on arrival. Won’t go into details as I am feeling guilty for such a lengthy OT, but long story short, it is value for money if you would take advantage of the cocktail hours. If you can’t or don’t drink then not worth it.

  • FlyUpTop says:

    Starwood looks the best for me, 1:1 plus extra 25% then extra 5000 when you transfer 20k.

  • Go says:

    Another free £20 promo code – gordon3s3

  • Rob MC says:

    I remember when Uber first came out. My friend must have earnt about £400 in free rides.

    Have just signed up if anyone would like to use my code

    robert4t8

    Could end up with a load of HFP’ers in the same van.

    • Rob says:

      I know one of the big US bloggers has a six-figure Uber credit balance …

    • roger james says:

      Rob MC, I randomly picked you as the referrer. Thanks!

      For anyone else looking for a referral code, you can use my code *** roger2w3 ***

      • Rob MC says:

        Thanks very much. I believe referral credit gets when you take your first trip

      • Rebecca says:

        I picked you Roger! If anyone fancies passing on the joy mine is rebecca7y9

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