Uber now covers 75% of the United States, but it won’t hit 100%

It took a mere five years for Uber to reach 75% of the population in the United States, but reaching the other 25% could take a hell of a lot longer. According to senior policy adviser Nicole Benincasa, the remaining 25% of American live in more rural areas that are much harder for Uber to operate in, which is why the company is choosing to put more focus on expanding its other services, like UberPool and UberRush, rather than trying to cover the entirety of the United States.

For many, space is the final frontier. For Uber, it’s upstate New York. That’s how the company’s senior policy adviser Nicole Benincasa described the company’s push to established a foothold there to the Daily News recently. A spokesperson for the company confirmed that upstate New York, with its depressed rural areas and struggling cities, was among the “last places” in the country Uber would be making a strong push. After that it will likely shift focus to building out its new products, like UberPool, UberEats, and UberRush. Uber says it covers 75 percent of the US population, a staggering fact about a company that’s only been around for five years. But why stop there? Why not 100 percent? That question is met with nonchalance. “We’ll get there,” the spokesperson said. “It’ll take time.” Indeed how Uber gets to 100 percent remains strangely undefined.