About eight times more expensive and serving a need, but are they really taking cars off the road?
Ridesharing is the area to be in at the moment – both in technology and transportation – and it seems everyone’s jumping on the bandwagon (as they should do). Avego has been pioneering ridesharing technology since 2007 and it’s interesting to see how the definition of Real-Time Ridesharing (RTR), and ridesharing in general, has been expanded and stretched in the past year to 18 months.
With the advent of companies like Uber, Sidecar, Lyft and Hailo, we see a definite split from the “share a ride with someone already going in your direction” model that Avego is based upon, to a more taxi-centric model where drivers are hired or given a donation by the rider to pick them up and bring them to a location of their choice. To their credit, these apps are undoubtedly providing a valuable service for consumers, especially in areas like San Francisco where taxis are so heavily in demand. However, their main effect, unlike ridesharing apps such as Avego, isn’t currently reducing the number of cars on the road.
Not least, there are serious concerns that these apps will face regulatory issues, as seen as recently as this week in San Francisco, where Lyft and Sidecar have come under intense scrutiny from the Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA) and the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC), regarding possible infringements on taxi licensing and potential insurance concerns. Assuming they can bypass all these regulatory hurdles, this model, although far from ridesharing, seems like it has serious potential.
Why is this not ridesharing? In addition to the fact that the driver in these scenarios was never intending to go where the rider asks them to, these systems, like taxis, need to charge a premium price to cover costs incurred, including driver fees. As opposed to the Avego model, where the cost of driving is split between driver and rider, this cost of these new models can reach up to eight times this amount.
Avego’s model is based around the commuter – a person with a regular destination, but not necessarily a regular schedule. The real-time aspect of the Avego Driver app means that it is possible to move away from the rigid, constrictive model of traditional carpooling and make one-off carpools with different colleagues each day, or multiple times each day. All you need is someone who is a member of the Avego community going the same direction at the same time.
For more info on current Avego projects in the USA see: www.wegorideshare.com, http://www.wegomil.com or www.smartride.org.