Amazon recently patented a plan to turn public buses into mobile delivery stations.
As buses lose ridership to Lyft and Uber, Amazon proposes an additional use for the vehicles. A removable delivery module would be attached to the bus, from which customers could pick up their packages at stops along the bus’s route.
In 2018, Amazon announced a $1.5 million investment to increase bus frequency in Seattle, home of the company’s headquarters.
“Some customers may not live or work near pickup locations, or may otherwise not want to take the time to travel to one,” the patent said.
“In addition, some customers may live and work in regions where there are few or no carriers for delivering packages, thus complicating the delivery of items to any destinations near the customer.”
According to the patent, a customer could enter an address and find nearby bus stops and time windows where and when the customer could pick up their package, or if a customer is already a public-transit rider, they could pick up their package on their usual bus.
