Uber Boston yesterday opened the doors of its Causeway Street office to members of the city’s press and technology/business scene in order to celebrate the launch of its latest product, uberPOOL, and hold a dialogue on the effects of such tech-based transit options on the overall transportation market.

The panel featured Uber’s East Coast General Manager Meghan Joyce along with Matt George, CEO of high-capacity ride-sharing app Bridj, and TechNet Northeast Executive Director Matt Mincieli, moderated by Adam Vaccaro of Boston.com.

Joyce described how the technological aspect of ride-sharing apps, such as gps, electronic payments and driver/car identification, have “an unprecedented level of transparency and accountability,” as well as safety and equity, to everyday transportation.

“Technology really is changing how [transportation] operates and bringing a lot of new and exciting opportunities for different transportation providers,” she said.

“With technology we can be a lot more customer-focused,” George said, due to the increase in options available to travelers, especially after what he described as a period of hyper-gentrification of areas that have the best access to public transportation.

George and Joyce offered differing opinions when asked about the relationship between their programs and the MBTA.

“We very much are providing an alternative to mass transportation,” George said, calling Uber and Bridj “massively more efficient” than established public transit. “We’re able to put a bus on the road per seat for 1/4 to 1/3 the cost of what the city puts on the street, and we’re able to make that trip anywhere between 30 and 50 percent faster.”

George added that he is excited about being able to work with cities to integrate his program with mass transit, which was echoed by Joyce.

“We find that all these options are incredibly complimentary,” she said, noting that the mass transit authority of Atlanta has begun to embed Uber into their own infrastructure to get passengers through the “last mile.”

“A rich transportation ecosystem with multiple options is going to ultimately be best for the city and its people. It’s important for them to all coexist together,” she said.

Though he said that the programs posed no serious threat to mass transit, Mincieli described how changes in transportation technology are in fact “changing where people live, and the way cities plan” relating to housing and energy needs.

“Transportation is going to adapt to where people live and work,” he said

Joyce added that “the more options you have for transportation in the city, the less likely you are to need to own a car” – a popular sentiment among the panel. As much as 15 percent of space in the city goes toward housing vehicles, she said, which often sit unused, taking up valuable real estate in a city that has been ranked among the most expensive in that regard.

“Getting people out of cars is the big thing for all us of,” George said, noting this as a point of contact for collaborations between different ride-sharing apps. “At the end of the day we’re all here to provide mobility to people in cities, and if we can work together to provide mobility to more people in cities, we all win.”

Joyce said that uberPOOL – which allows multiple Uber riders to share a ride and split the fare given their pickup and dropoff locations are similar – is perfect for achieving this goal, since it reduces even further the need for cars, and thus reduces congestion and pollution.

When asked about the public sector’s involvement in regulating ride-sharing apps and their drivers (a subject which has become heated enough to spur protests over proposed legislation), Mincieli described a “disconnect” between the rapid rise of technology and long-standing transportation laws as the heart of the issue.

“You can’t force new technology into a box that’s been around for decades,” he said. “It’s a good challenge for policy makers on Beacon Hill – we have to think of this as technology and innovation, not as just another transportation company.”

Joyce described Uber’s administration as pro-regulation, so long as that regulation does not seek to stymie competition, and said that 23 states have already passed specific legislation to account for the company’s style of operation.

“We think of ride-sharing and transportation network companies such as Uber as a ‘new innovative business model,’” she said. “And this new innovative business model deserves and requires a new innovative regulatory framework to go with it. … We’re really excited to work with the state of Massachusetts to find a clear, consistent framework.”