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WANTED: Carpooling Application
Either this exists or someone should make it. Now! Pretty please? (I.e. please tell me what it is so I can get my sys-admin to set it up/install it or please build it.)
It's very common for workplaces to have commuting employees who commute from clusters in the surrounding areas. If employees have very set routines, then its easy for them to form carpooling teams. If, however, there's a fair bit of variety in their routine--when they want to arrive, when they want to leave, how much room they'll have in their car b/c they might have to bring something big to work---then it becomes hard to form regular carpooling teams. Many such workers might not really settle on what the next day is going to look like until shortly before bedtime the previous day (having checked evening email, finished their dayplanning, consulted with significant others or family). At that point it's very impractical to go down the roster of uncommitted but interested proximate commuters, cold-calling to find a match, hoping to avoid waking early sleepers or babies. What would be really useful would be the ability to simply notify some central database of carpooling irregulars with one's particulars (location, earliest leave-the-house time, desired arrival time, earliest-leave-work time, desired end-time, willingness to drive, available seats), go to bed, wake up, and check one's phone for match results and instructions. (I.e. "yes, you drive, pick up Yvette (address) then Kumar (address), Kumar must leave work by 5pm)" or "no, sorry, no one can carpool with you today.")
Is this really too much to hope for? The future is now!
Realistically this probably isn't going to do much for me, b/c my workplace isn't big enough, but it might help, and the probability of it helping would increase with the size of the workplace and the number of its neighbors.
What I've found so far are a website called Ridesearch.com and a Facebook application called Zimride, which I think is commendable. However, I think these are the wrong venues for a lot of people. They're not focused enough. I know that my fellow employees are unlikely to register for either of these. They'd be particularly warying of giving Facebook their cell phone number. But they might go for somethig sponsored and hosted by our employer. Also, I'm slightly wary of using Facebook or the web to vet whose car I'm getting into, and these just search too wide a field. It's true that Zimride recognizes the need for one-time carpool matching. But it appears it doesn't quite do the geography matching/morning text-message one-time on-demand arrangement I'm talking about.(Maybe I'm just bitter because neither of these found a match for me--so I can't really test them. But that' my point!) There are plenty of ways to arrange steady, long-term carpools. I'm looking for a tool for the commitment-phobic. Maybe Ridesearch.com or Zimride could provide company-specific version, much like Google produces Google Apps for companies to use internally? I also found a webpage for an Australian server-side program that sounds more geared towards long-term arrangements.
Anyway, pointers/wholesale creation would be much appreciated. Please pass on to your faorite Web 2.0 experts or engineers in case they can find it or build it.
Comments (11)
Robin Chase of Zipcar has recently launched "GoLoco". Check it out for ideas.
Posted on Feb-17-2008 | Link
An ideal version of this would have a customizable mobile-device interface. Some of you may remember back when you didn't have iphones -- personally, I actually go online on a regular cellphone -- and the tools can range from incredible to pointless based on the UI. I'm imagining a checklist of options that I can use a real browser to set (number of open seats; time of departure; asking/offering). That is, I choose which ones will show up in my mobile browser, so I can enter a daily update with maximum ease each evening.
Posted on Feb-17-2008 | Link
Anup, thanks for the tip!! A perfect example of a bleg working quickly. GoLoco looks like it's very much going in the direction I want, but I haven't quite gotten it to work for me.
Scott: I pretty much agree with everything you said. Mobile-enabling these sorts of applications are the best way to make sure they get used when people actually want to use them. It sounds like the people at Zimrides, at least, have this in their sights.
Posted on Feb-19-2008 | Link
hi Saheli,
doing an image search for "carpooling applications"
I found this.
I do not have a facebook account myself, so I can't advise you regarding the pros and cons of facebook.
anyway, good luck, and since I'm thinking I haven't communicated with you since 2007, happy new year.
Posted on Feb-19-2008 | Link
Coming from the San Francisco Bay Area, I've heard a lot about 511.org's ridesharing service (never used it though).
Good luck with that. It would be interesting to see what you come up with, and how it gets implemented, if at all.
-Milo
Posted on Mar-04-2008 | Link
It sounds good, and about time. It's a little like something Germany has. Every city here has a Mitfahrerzentrale, where people going to some other city can register, with how many people they can take to where. Travelers go there and look up who's going, and then pay a small fee for the contact. I used to work it both ways, drivign with, and taking people. The driver gets som gas money for taking the extra passanger(s). Since gas in Germany has such a huge tax write-up it's always been very expensive, probably even more than what it costs now stateside.
Posted on Mar-05-2008 | Link
hey Saheli
I'm building a website that hopefully can accomplish this albeit on an adhoc and basic level.
the communication by phone is definitely in mind but far off on the horizon.
if you want to check it out, the code is still very beta - but you can get a taste of it at:
http://testingtesting.kazuum.com/post/25
where I created an example post of how you would use the system for carpools.
I know it's a very simple version, and no where near as comprehensive as goloco or zimride, but really how complicated does it have to be?
-arex
Posted on Mar-07-2008 | Link
There's dozens of these services out there now. The problem isn't necessarily with creating good software, it's with building a sufficient member base such that there's a high probability of getting a match.
The Feds helped fund dynamic ridesharing pilot projects like "SmartTraveler" back in the mid-90s.
Posted on Mar-11-2008 | Link
There is a free iPhone app called Carticipate which is the first mobile location aware app for carpooling.
We are about to announce our FB companion app to remove the iPhone as a requirement to carticipate.
We recently gave a talk on carticipation at the Silicon Valley iPhone Developers' Meetup in Palo Alto and posted the video here (select "high quality" mode):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kaphdB6Wafs
Posted on Dec-31-2008 | Link
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