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eHitching
FROM: Chris Ewels
What NEED does this meet?
Connecting potential passengers and drivers - enabling car pooling and reducing transport costs.
What is the APPROACH?
It's a bit like eBay. Drivers and potential passengers register. You type in your proposed journey (or text it in), possibly like 'lastminute.com' you can enter your flexibility in start/arrive time and location. Then there's a range of choices. Initially it could link passengers and drivers 'for free' - using route finder info it could also link passengers who may only want a part of the route being driven, i.e. they needn't have the same start and end destination. Could also propose a 'fee' the passenger pays the driver based on the mileage, pitched so the cost would be roughly half that of coach travel. Alternatively the eBay approach could be used and the driver could post up the voyage with minimum bid rate and passengers could 'bid' to travel in that vehicle. All financial transaction would (initially) have to be done between driver and passenger as logistics of organising website to handle this would be nasty. Otherwise it could just be a free service that connects folks.
What are the BENEFITS to people?
It could kickstart hitchhiking once again. There's an added level of security over conventional hitchhiking since both passenger and driver have to register at the site so there's at least one level of check possible if anything happens and, for example, the police need to be contacted. Currently lorries aren't normally allowed to pick up hitchers for insurance reasons - if there's way that firms can make money through an easily managed scheme such as this then maybe this will encourage them to change such regulations. If eBay is anything to go by, people may even start running 'private' services between places if they can get the passengers and an unofficial needs-based private 'public transport' system is born!
What is the COMPETITION?
Never heard of this working yet. It'd need good publicity to encourage take-up, maybe getting agreement from national coach etc carriers to enter their data (so if there's no private car low cost bid available, the passenger can at least be offered a more expensive coach or train option - could bring more passengers to the coach companies).
What BUDGET & LOGISTICS are required?
Depends on the level of complexity built into it. Maybe eBay could be encouraged to do this for you? If it ever really took off and payment was exchanged between driver and passenger via the site then the site could cover costs with a 2% surcharge or similar.
November 2, 2003 in Matching System, Reputation Systems, Transport | Permalink
Comments
I like this one. I think the main hurdle would be getting enough users to make it self sufficient. But they managed it at FriendsReunited, so it's not impossible.
There would also be potential problems with the safety aspect, but not insurmountable.
It would also be easy to add in the intelligence to work out, for example, that if somebody was driving from London to Plymouth, they could drop somebody from Reading to Exeter on the way.
Posted by: David at Nov 2, 2003 4:19:55 PM
Ah, but take a look at http://www.liftshare.com/, which is linked off MySociety's FAQ.
Posted by: David at Nov 2, 2003 4:24:09 PM
Security, is the biggest problem to overcome. As kids we were always warned never get
in a car with a stranger and that is no less true now we are adults.
You would need registered users to provide things like number plates, address and numbers
in case anything happened.
Posted by: Paul at Nov 2, 2003 9:50:16 PM
If you take a fee for doing the driving you have to have proper insurance...(I think you have to get Taxi insurance)
So all the lifts should be 'free'.
Posted by: dave at Nov 3, 2003 11:21:57 AM
Organised hitchhiking has been around in Germany long before the internet started.
1998, the first "Mitfahrzentrale" went online: http://mitfahrzentrale.tiscali.de/title.php,
Now there are at least two more: http://www.mitfahrgelegenheit.de/ and http://www.mfz.de/
main hurdle might be to establish the cultural framework for such a service.
Posted by: ionnek at Mar 22, 2004 4:09:09 PM
YEH im well in favour of this idea. i have just been researching myself if it has been done i really think it is needed it would bring people togther.
Posted by: Robert Mac at Jan 25, 2006 7:07:16 PM
Probierts mal aus, echt super! http://www.verkehrsmittelvergleich.de/
Posted by: Max baumann at Nov 11, 2009 11:27:47 AM
Probierts mal aus, echt super! http://www.verkehrsmittelvergleich.de/
Posted by: Max baumann at Nov 11, 2009 11:27:51 AM
Probierts mal aus, echt super! http://www.verkehrsmittelvergleich.de/
Posted by: Max baumann at Nov 11, 2009 11:27:53 AM
Probierts mal aus, echt super! http://www.verkehrsmittelvergleich.de/
Posted by: Max baumann at Nov 11, 2009 11:28:01 AM
Probierts mal aus, echt super! http://www.verkehrsmittelvergleich.de/
Posted by: Max baumann at Nov 11, 2009 11:28:01 AM
Probierts mal aus, echt super! http://www.verkehrsmittelvergleich.de/
Posted by: Max baumann at Nov 11, 2009 11:28:02 AM
Probierts mal aus, echt super! http://www.verkehrsmittelvergleich.de/
Posted by: Max baumann at Nov 11, 2009 11:28:02 AM
Probierts mal aus, echt super! http://www.verkehrsmittelvergleich.de/
Posted by: Max baumann at Nov 11, 2009 11:28:04 AM
Probierts mal aus, echt super! http://www.verkehrsmittelvergleich.de/
Posted by: Max baumann at Nov 11, 2009 11:28:05 AM
Probierts mal aus, echt super! http://www.verkehrsmittelvergleich.de/
Posted by: Max baumann at Nov 11, 2009 11:28:05 AM
Probierts mal aus, echt super! http://www.verkehrsmittelvergleich.de/
Posted by: Max baumann at Nov 11, 2009 11:28:05 AM
Probierts mal aus, echt super! http://www.verkehrsmittelvergleich.de/
Posted by: Max baumann at Nov 11, 2009 11:28:05 AM
Probierts mal aus, echt super! http://www.verkehrsmittelvergleich.de/
Posted by: Max baumann at Nov 11, 2009 11:28:26 AM
Probierts mal aus, echt super! http://www.verkehrsmittelvergleich.de/
Posted by: Max baumann at Nov 11, 2009 11:28:26 AM
Probierts mal aus, echt super! http://www.verkehrsmittelvergleich.de/
Posted by: Max baumann at Nov 11, 2009 11:28:26 AM
http://www.mitfahrgelegenheit.ch
Posted by: Mitfahrzentrale Schweiz at Jul 7, 2010 9:28:07 AM
Please also note that there is a page for Austria http://www.mitfahrgelegenheit.at
Posted by: Mitfahrzentrale Österreich at Jul 7, 2010 9:29:29 AM
Covoiturage en France http://www.envoiture.fr
Posted by: Covoiturage at Jul 7, 2010 9:30:31 AM