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Show HN: Hitch – Uber meets Public Transit
- minimaxir 12y agoHow is this any different from Lyft? "Splitting a ride with even more strangers" isn't sufficient differentiation.
- snir 12y agoLyft pairs one passenger (or equivalently, one party) to one driver. We've built a system which will actually take your route into consideration, and pair you with additional passengers that are en-route (relative to you). In other words, your ride is shared with other people heading in the same direction you are. While are drivers are for-hire at this phase (in order to provide a reliable and available supply-side), there is much higher utilization in the car as multiple riding parties are paired to it. EDIT: I see the question was changed slightly. Higher utilization makes all the difference. Our current public transit system is just as you've stated: a vehicle being shared by "more strangers" (in your own words). We envision our system creating a completely adaptive and dynamic transit grid, which lends itself to predominant way in which people get around in the future.
- Jonovono 12y agoIt looks like you'd be splitting the ride with others so filling up more of the car and thus paying less. Perhaps even meeting others. Sounds like enough of a difference to me.
- akgerber 12y agoMore like "dollar vans with an app". http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dollar_van http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dollar_van
- deleted 12y ago[deleted]
- snir 12y agoSure, in some sense :) This model exists under a number of names: Pesero, Jittney, Monit Sherut (to name a few). That said, it's not just an app that we've built. It's a system that can make dynamic decisions about which routes merit being paired together, and communicates with our drivers about any changes that need to be made to the current route. Of course, we take on-road safety into account, and so changes are only made while the vehicle is stationary.
- sdholbs 12y agoI took one of these from the mission to marina yesterday. I couldn't believe it was only ~$8. Next generation transportation
- djloche 12y agoFor me the killer feature for Uber and Hitch is when they start using a driverless fleet.
- haraball 12y agoSomewhat related solution in Finland, bus-on-demand: http://www.goodnewsfinland.com/archive/news/call-a-bus-to-your-nearest-bus-stop-in-helsinki/ http://www.goodnewsfinland.com/archive/news/call-a-bus-to-yo...
- snir 12y agoAbsolutely :) There are lot of systems like this that we took as inspiration. See my comment below on how we formalized this type of transit, and built something that can make more objective decisions as to whether the pairing "makes sense."
- adrow 12y agoAlso reminds me of Halting State by Charlie Stross. The buses in that book have an auction system where people bid against each other for it to go to their stop next.
- p00b 12y agoCool idea. What does this have to do with Public Transit though? It seems to me that a better description would be "Uber meets /Private/ Transit"
- deleted 12y ago[deleted]
- moskie 12y agoLove this idea, been waiting for something like this. Seems like Hitch is to Uber/Lyft as Casual Carpool is to taxis. Is that accurate?
- Grue3 12y agoIt's crazy nobody did this before. Using passenger location data to create the most effective transportation routes is something that should've caught on by now.