presents

When any witch or wizard finds themselves stranded or without a way home, the Knight Bus has been the most reliable wizarding service since the late 1800’s. All wizards or witches have to do is hold their wands up at the curb and the Knight Bus will appear. With a system that works so well, should there be other forms of public transportation in the wizarding world?

Agildo Velho Vidal thinks it is far past time that wizarding London catch up to other parts of the world. In 2082 Vidal started a service in Brazil called W.U. (or Wizarding Uber). The system is modeled after the Uber system muggles use with their cars, but unlike the Knight Bus the W.U. does not need wheels because it uses apparition. A form of transportation many witches and wizards use daily is now one of the biggest growing transportation services in the world. “In Brazil we do not have a bus that comes to take people home or to another location, so getting people who have an apparition license and wanted to make some extra money seemed like a simple solution.” He never dreamed that the W.U. would now be used in most of the Americas, some of Australia, and now reaching into London.

How does a system like this work, though? There are coins that can be bought that if you hold them in your hand they will summon the closest W.U. apparitioner. The Wizarding Uber worker will apparate to you, find out where you would like to go, and then apparate you to the nearest location to your destination. Since, as all wizards know, apparition is a tricky form of magic and you must have a visual of your location, Wizarding Uber workers have to know areas very well. They are fully trained to learn the cities and all points of stop so they can get a person as close as they can. They will make sure the client get to their destination safely from there. If you do not have a coin and find yourself in need there are plenty of public spots one can use. Coins are sold for two galleons and the Wizarding Uber itself is nine sickles each time, which is two sickles less than the basic eleven sickles for the Knight Bus. If you happen to get Floo-sick, your Apparition is unreliable, you hate heights, feel frightened or queasy taking Portkeys, and don’t like the Knight Bus; the W.U. could be for you!

Vidal says that since getting his permits, hiring, and doing all the training needed, the business has been steady. "I think the Wizarding Uber is a great thing. I never felt comfortable riding the knight bus late, if it wasn't workers driving like madmen, the other passengers always seemed like the Aurors should be raiding the bus. With this new Wizarding Uber it’s just one person and a quick pop and I'm home," Linda Chapman, a recent Wizarding Uber passenger stated.

Not all feel this nicely about the new system coming in and giving the Knight Bus competition. When asking Knight Bus passengers their thoughts on it, Jonah Henry had this to say, “We do not need another service, the Knight Bus has been our thing for many many years and these young kids think just because it’s old doesn’t mean it’s good enough. I won’t be trying that Wizarding Uber service that’s for sure. I’ll stay loyal to what I know.”

Whether you like the Knight Bus or would like to try the Wizarding Uber is up to you, but what we can tell you is there is a new transportation in town and it seems to be sticking around for awhile.