I was thinking to myself as I was driving to visit family, "I should be carpooling". It used to be that setting up a carpool was easy when I was a college student. The holidays were all the same and I already knew everyone who was from my high school. So I thought to myself I would use the internet to find ppl to carpool with when I got back.

[Aside] I hang around people advocating light rail a lot, and I am perpetually disagreeing with these people. Light rail doesn't work and will make the triangle's land use and traffic problems worse. However, I fully recognize the severity of those problems. Call me a loony, but look guys, we need to seriously be thinking that in 5-10 years our current way of life may not be possible, and even if it is, it might not be a good idea. [/Aside]

On a historical note, TWW used to have a ride share application. I think we all share a lack of expectation of innovative and cool things from TWW today.
/message_topic.aspx?topic=612207

So, here is how Raleigh looks to some of the sites out there on the internet right now:

eRideshare


Zimride


These are all intended to be like regular ride shares, to work and stuff. Long distance travel was pretty much zilch for both of these, unless maybe you're looking to go to Charlotte. I mostly believe that, as of yet, there's just not enough people using these for specifically what I had in mind.

I think it should be said - the number of participants in these sites is probably less than the number of unique views this thread will get. And that's kind of sad. But I don't want to waste my time using them when there's just not high enough density for me to have instant utility for it. Cue "natural monopoly" arguments and Facebook comparisons.

All of the ride sharing sites seem to each find their own special way to be useless. Now, there are some services that are really well developed and I think could get a large number of people on board... and only available in places like Seattle. Now, Raleigh has some demographic traits that makes it a good place to target some transportation revolution, and hippies I know like to tell me how the Rocky Mountain Institute selected it for some electric car stuff and whatever, but there are factors that disadvantage it as well. Notably, we're not a crisis levels yet, we don't currently have HOV lanes, etc etc. And this is an area where people will likely not change their behavior until crisis levels.

Just for the record, if you're buying a house in the area right now, aren't you dooming yourself to gridlock in 10 years? It seems so obvious to me but maybe I'm just crazy. I would like to do something, but there is no business model out there right now that I think will work. How do other people feel about this?

[Edited on July 7, 2011 at 7:06 PM. Reason : ]

7/7/2011 7:00:26 PM

Why would light rail make traffic and land use problems worse?

7/7/2011 7:19:00 PM

Carpooling is one of those things that I made use of in college as a freshman without a car. Folks like WillemJoel and aielman let me tag along to hip hop shows and other events.

As it is I live and work in Wake Forest and I'd be interested in working out some sort of carpool thing with others.

I think a lot of people's opposition is due to A) desire for autonomy (I can't run errands if I have to pick you up) and B) varying schedule (I have parent teacher conferences, staff meetings, etc.)

I think that for something like this to work you'd need to get over A and ride with people at/adjacent to your job for B.

Good topic, Alan.

7/7/2011 8:15:27 PM

C) Desire not to be raped by some random stranger you get in the car with far away from home.

There's a reason hitchhiking is illegal.

Quote :

"aren't you dooming yourself to gridlock in 10 years"

We're doomed in many regards. It helps to buy a house on the east side of town so you don't have to stare at the sun during your commute. But you have to go farther away from town on the east side to escape the ghetto. So...hmm...live downtown and take your chances getting mugged while walking instead I guess.

Or you could work from home, but then there's the wanking issue.

I wonder if in the future we could all be driving makeshift taxis, with 4 independent seat cages for our respective safety from the strangers we pick up. We could arrange rideshares and charge by the mile to help offset the ridiculous cost of vehicle ownership that will certainly arise one day.

[Edited on July 7, 2011 at 9:14 PM. Reason : .]

7/7/2011 9:06:37 PM

Whatever happened to the rideshare tool on tww?

7/7/2011 9:56:25 PM

I don't think it got much use at the time.

7/7/2011 10:56:00 PM

^^i think the last time i saw it, the lines for available rides spelled out "pwnt"

7/7/2011 11:12:37 PM

and don't forget the swastika someone drew on there

7/8/2011 9:50:52 AM

I'm glad that smc took the safety issue to task. It seems I can always count on him for the fear angle.

Quote :

"There's a reason hitchhiking is illegal."

Exactly! Did you know that way back in the stone ages, like 1950s and 60s, normal people actually hitchhiked? For real, I talked to an old person once, and he told me about how he had to "thumb" his way to work through a period of his life.

Something changed. Maybe it was the spike in crime.



Maybe it was because we were changing from social creatures to an isolated modern society. Maybe the development patterns no longer favored it. Either way, it might have made sense for hitchhiking to be absent in the 80s.

But shared commuting models makes sense for the 10s. Every reason that hitchhiking went to way of the dodo has changed. Crime rates have decreased, and there are LOTS of online models that have been successful to allow P2P commerce. Look up Airbnb. They made a system to rent out empty rooms like a hotel and they have a $1 billion valuation now. In case you were about to ask, yes, some of the ride share systems have background checks available. The combination of identity verification (of the driver), location tracking (of the rider), and the online system itself makes it basically assured that abduction and crimes to the passengers would be caught. They could still do it, but criminology shows that legal repercussions prevent crime based on the likelihood of getting caught (very little effect from severity of punishment). On top of that, people today are becoming more and more willing to meet people they find online. Couchsurfing has 50k introductions per week and one reported rape in all its history.

Any risk-informed approach blows the safety concerns out of the water. BUT, that is only if there is a community-level commitment to a program. If you go on Craig's List right now and find someone to share a ride with, yes, be very afraid.

7/8/2011 11:16:03 AM