You live in a big city and you need to go somewhere without a car. Soon as you're outside your house there are a zillion cars driving by, some of which are bound to go your direction. Some of these people would take you for a ride, but they don't know where you're going and who can you trust these days anyway?
Here's the plot: before you go, you enter your location and destination by sms to some central server. A driver going from A to B has done the same. The central server checks instantly for matches and/or overlaps. If a driver goes your way, he is notified immediatly by an sms from the central server. The driver can send a confirmation sms to you. You meet the driver and he brings you to your destination.
Why would it work? The driver gets some money from the passenger for the ride. He could give a ride to several people and thus make his own trip worth while.
How could passengers trust drivers and vice versa? By using an Ebay type rating system that allows to rate both driver and passenger after each ride. So you need to sign up before using the system. After every successful ride, both passenger and driver can submit a positive rating about the other. If th ride doesn't work out for some reason, you can give negative feedback. This way you have some information as to who you are dealing with.
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It seems to me that we already have taxis and car service in every city. These can frequent high demand areas or be called in. The passenger pays a fee, just as in your system, but in this case the drivers are proffesionals, and almost all of the risk is actually bourne by the driver. I don't really see the advantage of what is essentially an amateur taxi service.
Well, in some states the driver would need a CDL -- but that's no big deal. I like this idea, since it is "self-administering" to a great extent. Hey, for that matter, include the professional taxi and limo drivers. They could be rated, and list their prices as well.
I've paid for some that should have paid me danger money.
Some cities have express lanes for multipassenger vehicles. In DC, people would stand along the route to the freeway and show (sometimes with a sign) that they wanted a ride to town. Drivers would pick them up simply to be able to use the 3-passenger expressway.
It's called "carpooling." There isn't any reason why one couldn't set up a website for promoting carpooling in his/her own community. The car can be a personal car, taxi, or limo. Sometimes the concept is called "ridesharing."
Strohalm,
Do a Google search for "Texxi" and see what you find.
Also, have a look at their Video Cliphttp://www.texxi.com/pro/texxi.nsf/pages/Texxi+TV:+Video+Virals