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Introducing Driver Destination

blog.lyft.com

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Re: Introducing Driver Destination

#11

Post by cwilson »

eli wrote: post #7

Shared carpooling (called "slugging" here) has a been a viable commuting option for people in the DC area for decades. No money changes hands; the point is that a car with 3+ people can use the much faster HOV lanes. http://www.slug-lines.com/Slugging/About_slugging.asp

The thing is, I've never heard that term until now. I lived in the DC area for two years and worked with quite a few commuters. It's cool that it's a concept but there hasn't been mainstream adoption to the point where it's as easy as an app in your pocket until now.

If a tree falls in the woods...

Re: Introducing Driver Destination

#13

Post by eli »

cwilson wrote: post #11
eli wrote: post #7

Shared carpooling (called "slugging" here) has a been a viable commuting option for people in the DC area for decades. No money changes hands; the point is that a car with 3+ people can use the much faster HOV lanes. http://www.slug-lines.com/Slugging/About_slugging.asp

The thing is, I've never heard that term until now. I lived in the DC area for two years and worked with quite a few commuters. It's cool that it's a concept but there hasn't been mainstream adoption to the point where it's as easy as an app in your pocket until now. If a tree falls in the woods...

I don't have hard data, but I think it's more common than you think. We have one employee who does it every day and I know 1 or 2 others. I would imagine everyone who lives in e.g. Woodbridge knows about slugging.

Re: Introducing Driver Destination

#14

Post by jdawg77 »

mahyarm wrote: post #3
monksy wrote: post #2

That seems like it's going after a very small segment of the market.

It will be, but it is appealing to a large casual set of the market, and it could reduce congestion significantly in a city if it gets enough traction.

Can't up-vote this one enough; worked at a startup for a while tackling all sorts of traffic related stuff with proprietary IP, industry veterans & more. Suffice to say that there are tons of papers out there which clearly say taking N% of the number of cars off the road reduces congestion by Y% - a very much larger impact than the number of cars taken off.

This is because traffic, in general, is really caused by a small number of cars. It seems like it's everywhere but the root cause (there was a paper even on HN that talked about it) is that people can't follow each other at an even speed. This uneven speed then results in more braking, more backup, etc. A few cars in the lead who don't accelerate properly can have a disproportionately negative impact on traffic flow and average speed.

Re: Introducing Driver Destination

#15

Post by joezydeco »

eli wrote: post #7

Shared carpooling (called "slugging" here) has a been a viable commuting option for people in the DC area for decades. No money changes hands; the point is that a car with 3+ people can use the much faster HOV lanes. http://www.slug-lines.com/Slugging/About_slugging.asp

No money changes hands

This might be a small detail that matters big if you start driving for Lyft. What does your personal auto insurance policy cover if a paying passenger gets hurt in an accident in your car?

Re: Introducing Driver Destination

#16

Post by awwstn »

This is really great – though I wonder if Lyft runs the risk of people making the connection once (i.e. finding a person with similar commute times/locations who is willing to pay for rides) and deciding to arrange a paid carpool that doesn't go through Lyft.

Re: Introducing Driver Destination

#18

Post by pinaceae »

ass backwards. you want the next bn dollar idea?

while I am at work, my car sits in the parking lot of the building for 8-10hours, unused.

i don't want to be a lyft/uber driver. i want MY CAR to work for uber/lyft in its off hours. have a driver pick it up in the morning at the office, then return it when i want to get home (full gas tank and cleaned car for an extra fee).

someone takes this and get rich.

Re: Introducing Driver Destination

#19

Post by tomhallett »

monksy wrote: post #2

That seems like it's going after a very small segment of the market.

Let's imagine it is a small market and has very minimal impact (which I would disagree with), it is still showing that lyft is trying to build a better product/infrastructure to taxis, not just a comparable alternative. Ie it doesn't matter how much taxis up their game with mobile apps, seamless payments, etc - they still won't offer this type of solution.

Re: Introducing Driver Destination

#20

Post by ufmace »

chimeracoder wrote: post #6
monksy wrote: post #2

That seems like it's going after a very small segment of the market.

I don't think this is a small market at all. I was in SF a few weeks ago and was shocked by how cheap and effective Lyft Line is - it ended up being comparably priced to public transportation in terms of getting around the city. (A tad more expensive, yes, but not an order of magnitude more, as I would have expected). I've already heard of people using Lyft Line in this way (making money on the way to work), and I im…

Hmm, this makes me wonder if there's room in the market for an app specifically targeted towards people who want to find carpool partners and coordinate schedules among carpool groups.
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