As a member of the Sightline Board, I always like to share insights from Alan Durning. Here’s a link to his piece on the latest development in car-sharing:
The typical moving car in the Pacific Northwest has a driver and no passengers: it has four or more spare seats. (If you doubt this, do a quick visual census on the roads. Seeing even two people in a car is unusual.)
So, if someone can figure out how to broker the rental of some of those unused seats, she or he will be rich, and the driver and rider will save money by the oil barrel.
Up to now, the biggest obstacle to such a market has been information. How can drivers and riders find each other? How can they know whether to trust each other? How can they ensure payment?
That’s where the Seattle start-up Goose Networks comes in. Goose has built a real-time ridesharing system that links riders with drivers by combining text-messaging mobile phones, mapping software, a clever database, and a billing system for splitting the cost of fuel.
Follow the link for the rest of the piece.
