Interesting People mailing list archives
Re: Can Hi-tech Hitchhiking Work? * 4:15PM, Wed April 22, 2009 in Gates B01
From: David Farber <dave () farber net>
Date: Sun, 19 Apr 2009 17:24:39 -0400
Begin forwarded message: From: Richard Pauli <rpauli () mail speakeasy net> Date: April 19, 2009 12:47:45 PM EDT To: dave () farber net Cc: ip <ip () v2 listbox com>Subject: Re: [IP] Re: Can Hi-tech Hitchhiking Work? * 4:15PM, Wed April 22, 2009 in Gates B01
Reply-To: rpauli () speakeasy netIn a perfect tech world one should be able to stand along the road (in the rain, at night) and open a cell phone screen to potential drivers going that way. Drivers and riders would connect, validate and locate in a reasonable computation time - minutes at most.
The obstacles are not so much technical - as political - because a trusted agent should validate the identity of the users - like a drivers license by the state.. There are lots of startups for ridesharing and dynamic ridesharing using wireless devices - but they require a critical mass to start well, or if small they require a trust relationship to validate members. And worse, rideshare services are so proprietary that one must join many to get decent coverage.... they really should be open data exchange of some sort. You might check http://dynamicridesharing.org http://ithumb.org/ wifitoday.html http://ithumb.org/derivativ.html
There is a growing need, it is just a matter of putting things together smartly. It will happen, we should not waste too much time learning lessons over again. Govts could give tax incentives to drivers who provide rides. Too many good ideas.
Richard Pauli ithumb.org David Farber wrote:
Begin forwarded message: From: Steve Crocker <steve () shinkuro com> Date: April 18, 2009 7:16:34 PM EDT To: dave () farber net Cc: Steve Crocker <steve () shinkuro com>, "ip" <ip () v2 listbox com>Subject: Re: [IP] Can Hi-tech Hitchhiking Work? * 4:15PM, Wed April 22, 2009 in Gates B01Here's a peculiar data point. A few months ago my wife spent a couple of days in the hospital in La Porte, Indiana. (She received good care, all is well and the people were very nice.) When she was discharged, she needed a ride to the airport in South Bend, IN. We learned there are no taxis in La Porte. Maybe I don't spend enough time in small towns in mid-America, but this struck us as odd. The city has more than 20,000 people and seemed big enough, and the hospital was certainly comparable to a big city hospital, but somehow the city doesn't support taxi services.The staff was very friendly, and more than one person offered a ride. Maybe that's the way they do things in the heartland.My wife, a big city girl who'd rather pay for a ride than put someone out, called a cab from South Bend.Steve ------------------------------------------- Archives: https://www.listbox.com/member/archive/247/=now RSS Feed: https://www.listbox.com/member/archive/rss/247/ Powered by Listbox: http://www.listbox.com
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Current thread:
- Can Hi-tech Hitchhiking Work? * 4:15PM, Wed April 22, 2009 in Gates B01 David Farber (Apr 18)
- <Possible follow-ups>
- Re: Can Hi-tech Hitchhiking Work? * 4:15PM, Wed April 22, 2009 in Gates B01 David Farber (Apr 19)
- Re: Can Hi-tech Hitchhiking Work? * 4:15PM, Wed April 22, 2009 in Gates B01 David Farber (Apr 19)