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60 comments on High-Tech Hitchhiking
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60 comments on High-Tech Hitchhiking
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GAIA Host Collective
Phil,
This is similar to a scheme I have been thinking about where there are fixed routes from designated stops. The riders simpoly line up at the "going to town stop" and passsing drivers know that they will drop them off at another designated stop. Bit less flexible but doesn't rely on hi-tech.
I'm actually quite impressed with your system and think you should register the trademark immediatley!
One of the hurdles is the legal restrictions on running either a taxi service or bus service which your service may fall under. You might get away with it as long as there is no formal payment beween drivers and passengers. If a passenger was to drop a handful of change on the floor and accidentally leave it there when they alighted well that might just be good fortune for the driver of course and would be very hard to police. The tax office would be interested in drivers who receive payments too so I really think you have to do this on the honour system and a cash in hand basis.
I really like the idea of rating passengers and drivers.
I could be accused of being naive here, but I would like to think that in the interests of solving the oil crisis that Governments can find a way around the bureaucratic hurdles.
As long as the drivers are not making a profession out of picking up passengers, the tax office won't mind. It will be treated as a 'hobby' (like selling stamps on eBay) unless you start to earn so much from it that you're actually exceeding the costs of owning and running the car.
There may well be some restrictions on 'running a taxi service' so I hope that Governments can find us a way around that. It would be a shame (but not necessarily surprising) for a good solution to our oil crisis to be blocked by a little piece of bureaucratic red tape!
Thanks for your support:
http://www.reddit.com/comments/6wacy/the_ihitch_high_tech_hitchiking/
http://digg.com/environment/The_iHitch_High_tech_hitchiking
You've identified the first political problem you'll have to face. The existing taxi industry will scream very loudly about this as it effectively destroys the value of their business and industry overnight. Many of them have spent hundreds of thousands of dollars to obtain a taxi plate and a mass carpool system like this would be seen as a huge threat. Who are the pollies going to protect? The GST and income tax paying taxi industry or the upstart car pool business?
I think it's a great idea and one that the various groups looking at solutions need to work on. But I do believe that to implement something like this you have to make it attack proof from the law and that means the communication aspect of it and the way people pay eachother has to go underground so as to avoid any confrontation with the authoritys. I'm sure there are plenty of ways to do it if we think about it long enough.
The taxi industry needs to have the cleaners put through it anyway. The fact that the licence plates are worth all that money shows that there is a lot of potential to make monopoly rents at present. (In fact, both the passengers and the drivers are exploited by the existing system, and the transport service provided leaves a *lot* to be desired...)
I think the system would need to be government mandated/regulated, and open standards applied to the technologies. Otherwise, there could be a segmentation of the market as in myspace/facebook/bebo etc. (as this may not be patentable). Eventually a dominant player would emerge, and they would be able to increase prices, and reap imense profits from the scheme.
If governments receive a small 'hitch tax' from every lift. This could offset the losses from taxi taxes (and could therefore counter the lobbying effort), and would be simple to do if an electronic payment system was involved.
Many insurance companies and the government are interested in fitting vehicles with GPS trackers (improved calculation of premiums), and this would provide an added incentive for people to take it up, on which they could capitalise. I'm not sure I actually approve of the 'big brother' aspect of this, but it's a commercial consideration.
If the government/police had access to each vehicle tracker data, any crime might be reduced, as it would be easier to catch people.
I don't like where my thoughts are taking me though! I'd prefer a simpler solution.
I think this is a brilliant idea. I also think it would probably be considered illegal in most parts of U.S. now.
Taxis are licensed and regulated. "Jitney cabs," while efficient and potentially providing a great service to low income people in lower density areas, are generally illegal. Your idea would probably be illegal under the same laws that ban jitneys, though you are proposing something that would be a giant leap forward over any jitney system.
Which US states have made hitch-hiking illegal? | Answerbag.com
This list is far from complete, Washington state also banned hitchhikers (on the Interstates, and elsewhere?) in the wake of the Home of the Green River Killer's activities. We've quite a series of legal hurdles to overcome in the states.
In addition to resistance from cab/MT companies, consider that of the automotive sales/maintenance industry, and of fuel retailers. As irrational as it may seem now. Of course this would be swept aside in a real crisis situation, but never underestimate institutionalized greed.
Like your plan nonetheless.
No problem with the Taxi industry, just compensate for the old license system and start with something new different.
One issue with the new system is persons and background checks.
If Jack the ripper, some child molester or persons intent on murder is on the "service" you would have problems. Because this scheme would be one easy way of getting someone in a car and taking them somewhere else.
Here in the Washington, DC area, it's called "slugging". It started in 1971. It's free (the benefit now is to single drivers who pick up one or two passengers which then allows them to use the High Occupancy Vehicle (HOV) lanes). See:
http://www.slug-lines.com/Slugging/About_slugging.asp
-- Philip B. / Washington, DC
http://www.communitysolution.org/rideshare.html