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Lyft Carpool: A New Way to Commute

blog.lyft.com

41–50 of 197 posts

Re: Lyft Carpool: A New Way to Commute

#41
post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No insurance is a huge red flag to me

Existing, old school carpool programs don't check to see if drivers have insurance, so how is this anything new?

Existing, old school carpool programs aren't paying their drivers, either. Which means it isn't commercial use. Which means your regular auto insurance covers it. Unlike this.

Re: Lyft Carpool: A New Way to Commute

#42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No insurance is a huge red flag to me

Insurance and regulation arbitrage is basically the name of the game for Uber, Lyft, and Airbnb as far as I can tell.

That sounds clever and informed but is mostly obnoxious.

Re: Lyft Carpool: A New Way to Commute

#43

A few notes on items I find a bit strange here. 1. To get from the East Bay to SF in the carpool lane you need 2 passengers (3 people total - or a car that only seats two) 2. The East Bay already has a pretty nice system for this called the Casual Carpool which is probably its biggest competition. The Casual Carpool is just a bunch of spots (usually BART Stations) where drivers can stop and pick up a few other passen…

#2 is the kind of system that's ripe for "disruption" (or whatever your favorite buzzword is for this). Is the answer specifically this app? Maybe not, but "pretty nice systems" don't tend to involve "usually", "chip in", or "common" (not to pick on your specific language, I just mean the "hidden" knowledge and customs that come with informal, organic systems).

It's that informal and inconsistent group knowledge that gets turned into an app, which formalizes the informal parts, removes the barrier to entry (knowing about the informalities in the first place), and (should) build protections in to ensure conformity to the now established system (payment, insurance, etc).

Re: Lyft Carpool: A New Way to Commute

#44
post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It says riders pay up to $10 per ride and drivers get up to $10 per ride. This makes me think that Lyft won't be taking a cut from the carpool rides. If that's the case, then Lyft is also providing a super easy way to pay the driver without having to remember to bring cash.

The "up to" parts make me think they will be taking a cut ;-)

Well the math says they won't. If the most a rider can pay is $10, and if Lyft takes a cut, then the max the driver will receive will be less than $10, which is not what they say.

Re: Lyft Carpool: A New Way to Commute

#46

No driver background checks or vehicle inspections, per the TOS [0]: "The Carpool Platform is operated by Clara Rides, Inc., not Lyft, Inc. Clara Rides, Inc. is not a Transportation Network Company or a transportation service. Clara Rides and Lyft do not conduct criminal background checks on Carpool Drivers, perform vehicle inspections on vehicles used for Carpool Rides, or provide insurance for Carpool Rides." [0] h…

Do background checks and extra insurance exist in any carpool systems?

Re: Lyft Carpool: A New Way to Commute

#47
post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Existing, old school carpool programs don't check to see if drivers have insurance, so how is this anything new?

Existing, old school carpool programs aren't paying their drivers, either. Which means it isn't commercial use. Which means your regular auto insurance covers it. Unlike this.

The amounts seem purposely low so as to appear like non-commercial activity.

Re: Lyft Carpool: A New Way to Commute

#49

We've been doing this in Vancouver, Canada for 5 weeks now ( http://sparerides.com ). It is great to see another player doing true ridesharing. Lyft actually started with a business model similar to this ( http://zimride.com ) but saw much greater growth with the taxi model so rebranded and pushed that instead. While HOV lanes are a large incentive for drivers, we have seen that many of our drivers here in Vancouver…

What do you mean by "carpooling does not provide an income to the driver"? I honestly wouldn't pick up people without compensation, especially for longer distances. So you just charge riders and the driver gets nothing?

I'm curious because I'm planning on starting a similar venture in my home country.

Re: Lyft Carpool: A New Way to Commute

#50
post #45
post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That is how carpooling works.

For non-commercial purposes, sure.

I doubt lyft is making much if anything on this. It's likely just a way to get users to start using the app. If they use it daily it's more likely they'll use the standard lyft service too
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