Bridj bet its next round on one car company's signature — and never got it

Bridj launched in Boston in 2014: tap an app, reserve a seat on a 14-passenger shuttle, and a pop-up route appeared where demand was. The 'Uber for buses' idea spread to Austin, Washington DC and Kansas City, where Bridj ran a $1.3 million pilot with the city's transit authority.

The economics stayed thin. In Kansas City the service reached only 1,480 people in a year and ended in March 2017; critics called the vehicles fancy buses stuck in traffic. Rather than raise a traditional venture round, CEO Matt George bet the company on a 'sizable transaction' with a major car company — and let the close date extend 'from weeks to months' waiting for internal approvals.

The signature never came. On 30 April 2017 George announced Bridj would wind down: 'Despite assurances, and all parties acting in the best of faith, that didn't happen.' Three years and millions of passenger miles — then the largest operation of its kind in the country — ended because one deal didn't.