This is my other commuter idea. I am actually quite serious about this idea thus I am writing in black.
It came to me the other day when I was on my way to the gym. I drove past the bus stop at the end of my road and remembered how I used to wait there to get the bus to the station. Everyone waiting at that bus stop either wants to go to the station or to the town centre. Whenever I was waiting there I'd see car after car go by, and used to be fully convinced that over half of them would pass the station, and that at least one of them would think it'd be worth giving me a lift there if I paid them the bus fare (the journey from my bus stop to the station is about 5 mins, but takes over 15 minutes to walk). Anyway, this time I was the one in the car driving by, and I started contemplating whether anyone waiting at any of the bus stops I'd pass on the way was going anywhere along my route, and what it would take for me to give them a lift.
Later that day when I was having lunch with Ladun and debating the congestion charge, Ladun told me that outside of London most public transport is pretty rubbish and everyone drives everywhere. This again got me thinking about how many cars there were on the road, and how many people were going the same way as other people, and I started wondering whether it'd be possible to co-ordinate all these potential passengers and drivers, and what it would take to get a lift somewhere. To cut a looooong story short, I came up with gimmealift.com. I haven't actually got this website or anything yet - as always, I'm trapped in the idea phase. In fact, I haven't even pinned the idea properly down yet.
What I have done is a little bit of research. I typed in "organised hitch-hiking" into Google since I guess this is effectively what I'm proposing. It turns out that this is a long established practice in Germany, known as the Mitfahrzentrale (roughly translated as "the agency for shared rides"). True, this is over longer distances and booked more in advance, but it's kinda the same principle. People who want a ride somewhere give their request to one of the Mitfahrzentrale (there are quite a few agencies over there), who then match them up with one of the drivers who have said they are doing that journey. The agency takes a commission for setting up the match, the passenger gets a ride at a cheaper price than public transport, and the driver gets paid by the passenger for the lift (it's usually a certain number of euros per km, or the passenger splits the fuel cost or something like that). Similar schemes run in Belgium and across Europe too, some of which are for free (in that the agency doesn't take a cut, just matches up people).
The next commuter solution out there that I really loved is slugging. I think this only exists in America, and only this formally in Washington DC. Basically it's short-notice short-distance ride-sharing whereby drivers that want to drive in the faster "carpool" lanes pick up strangers (aka "slugs") so that they have enough people in their car to get into the carpool lane. This has become such a phenomenon that there are actual slug-lines where people queue to get their free lifts from strangers! Both parties win since the passenger gets his free ride and the driver gets his passenger so he can go in the faster carpool lane rather than sit in the traffic. Seriously, read through the link, its an amazing idea, I wish we could implement something similar here.
I guess what I'm thinking about is something in between slugging and the mitfahrzentrale. I'm trying to think of a way so that all the waiting commuters can get to their destinations just a little bit faster, while we make more efficient use of the cars that are out there. I guess I'm also thinking about more long distance journeys e.g. say if A needed a lift from London to Oxford on Monday and B was driving up then anyway, and A offered some money towards the fuel, would it be in B's interests to take A along?
My issues at the moment are: What are the actual logistics of a scheme like this (i.e. if it was going to be a spontaneous picking someone up at a bus stop type thing, how could the driver and passenger actually co-ordinate with each other)? Where's the incentive for people? What about safety? Could we make it more organised e.g. formal daily ride sharing by schools or companies?
I know it's a pretty vague idea at the moment, but I think it has business potential, and is good for the environment, and kinda socially enterprising too.
So, ideas/feedback? Could something like this work? And yes, we can change the name :)
It came to me the other day when I was on my way to the gym. I drove past the bus stop at the end of my road and remembered how I used to wait there to get the bus to the station. Everyone waiting at that bus stop either wants to go to the station or to the town centre. Whenever I was waiting there I'd see car after car go by, and used to be fully convinced that over half of them would pass the station, and that at least one of them would think it'd be worth giving me a lift there if I paid them the bus fare (the journey from my bus stop to the station is about 5 mins, but takes over 15 minutes to walk). Anyway, this time I was the one in the car driving by, and I started contemplating whether anyone waiting at any of the bus stops I'd pass on the way was going anywhere along my route, and what it would take for me to give them a lift.
Later that day when I was having lunch with Ladun and debating the congestion charge, Ladun told me that outside of London most public transport is pretty rubbish and everyone drives everywhere. This again got me thinking about how many cars there were on the road, and how many people were going the same way as other people, and I started wondering whether it'd be possible to co-ordinate all these potential passengers and drivers, and what it would take to get a lift somewhere. To cut a looooong story short, I came up with gimmealift.com. I haven't actually got this website or anything yet - as always, I'm trapped in the idea phase. In fact, I haven't even pinned the idea properly down yet.
What I have done is a little bit of research. I typed in "organised hitch-hiking" into Google since I guess this is effectively what I'm proposing. It turns out that this is a long established practice in Germany, known as the Mitfahrzentrale (roughly translated as "the agency for shared rides"). True, this is over longer distances and booked more in advance, but it's kinda the same principle. People who want a ride somewhere give their request to one of the Mitfahrzentrale (there are quite a few agencies over there), who then match them up with one of the drivers who have said they are doing that journey. The agency takes a commission for setting up the match, the passenger gets a ride at a cheaper price than public transport, and the driver gets paid by the passenger for the lift (it's usually a certain number of euros per km, or the passenger splits the fuel cost or something like that). Similar schemes run in Belgium and across Europe too, some of which are for free (in that the agency doesn't take a cut, just matches up people).
The next commuter solution out there that I really loved is slugging. I think this only exists in America, and only this formally in Washington DC. Basically it's short-notice short-distance ride-sharing whereby drivers that want to drive in the faster "carpool" lanes pick up strangers (aka "slugs") so that they have enough people in their car to get into the carpool lane. This has become such a phenomenon that there are actual slug-lines where people queue to get their free lifts from strangers! Both parties win since the passenger gets his free ride and the driver gets his passenger so he can go in the faster carpool lane rather than sit in the traffic. Seriously, read through the link, its an amazing idea, I wish we could implement something similar here.
I guess what I'm thinking about is something in between slugging and the mitfahrzentrale. I'm trying to think of a way so that all the waiting commuters can get to their destinations just a little bit faster, while we make more efficient use of the cars that are out there. I guess I'm also thinking about more long distance journeys e.g. say if A needed a lift from London to Oxford on Monday and B was driving up then anyway, and A offered some money towards the fuel, would it be in B's interests to take A along?
My issues at the moment are: What are the actual logistics of a scheme like this (i.e. if it was going to be a spontaneous picking someone up at a bus stop type thing, how could the driver and passenger actually co-ordinate with each other)? Where's the incentive for people? What about safety? Could we make it more organised e.g. formal daily ride sharing by schools or companies?
I know it's a pretty vague idea at the moment, but I think it has business potential, and is good for the environment, and kinda socially enterprising too.
So, ideas/feedback? Could something like this work? And yes, we can change the name :)
