SideCar to Disrupt Cabs with Real-time P2P Ridesharing App
After a four-month beta program in San Francisco with a reported 10,000 test rides, SideCar officially launched today as “the first on-demand rideshare community.” Though the company's beta test was invitation only, the service spread by word of mouth and SideCar enjoyed high numbers of repeat participants in both the driver's and passenger's seats. The peer-to-peer ride-sharing service claims to be more than just a platform — it's being dubbed a transportation community which brings one more option into the shareable transportation fray.
Using the free SideCar mobile app, drivers and passengers can find each other instantaneously and share on-demand rides. Rather than call a cab, riders can use their smartphones to find a SideCar ride. Passengers use the app to set their pick-up and drop-off locations, then track their SideCar driver in real-time to get an estimated pick up time.
The app also tracks progress to destination in real-time, offers a constantly adjusted ETA, and lets riders easily message arrival information to those at the destination. I especially like the progress tracker that uses mapping software. It offers added assurance that you're actually headed in the right direction.
The mobile app includes sharing and rating features (for both riders and drivers), as well as an electronic tip jar so the rider can help cover the driver's expenses. SideCar is finding that the contributions often cover drivers' vehicle maintenance and operation costs. And voluntary online donations keep the service within the definition of ride sharing instead of a taxi service, though the latter is exactly what Sidecar aims to disrupt.
But, as SideCar driver Eric Janson notes, it's not all about the money: “I started out driving to cover the cost of my car, but now I just love meeting all the interesting people this city has to offer. I often see the same people and I'm getting to know them. It’s more fun than you can imagine at first. The other great thing is I can login to the app whenever it suits me, so it’s completely flexible for my schedule.”
To bolster trust and safety of all concerned, SideCar offers a number of impressive features. They seem to have taken this aspect of the service quite seriously, and for good reason as given high profile incidents at sharing economy leaders Airbnb and RelayRides. For passengers safety, SideCar offers:
- Criminal background checks for all drivers
- Confirmed drivers license and screening of DMV records
- Interviews with all drivers before allowing them onto the system.
- The location of the vehicle is tracked by GPS. This location is recorded by SideCar and the passenger can also share this
- Tracking with friends during your ride.
- Passengers rate drivers and SideCar investigates any low ratings and removes members who get consistently bad feedback
- Photos of the driver and the car are provided through the app
For drivers, SideCar encourages civility by passengers in a few ways:
- No anonymity: a valid credit card and smartphone are required to be a part of the community.
- Drivers rate passengers and repeat offenders are removed from the community.
- No cash changes hands
SideCar's CEO and co-founder, Sunil Paul, boasts, “SideCar is more than just the easiest way to get around the city. We have created a platform for the first ever crowd-sourced transportation network. With SideCar we can help reduce urban congestion, fight climate change and bring back a sense of community and connection to our cities.”
Comments
Neal Gorenflo wrote on 06.26.12, 6:39pm:
The thing I hate about taxis is that they aren't easily held accountable. I've had a number of bad experiences with incompetent or rude cabbies. This is costly and not fun but not worth it to report.
With a system like Sidecar, the rating system will weed out bad eggs. It's easy to complain. And there's incentive to be a good driver and passenger. Good behavior equals continued access to the resource.
With the rise of collaborative consumption and the sharing economy, the future of taxi service appears bleak. In fact the future of transportation is about to be turned upside down. The notion of having to call a cab to get to the airport or a restaurant will soon disappear as public transportation becomes more efficient, less expensive and more human.
Thanks to Tickengo (disruptive company in this space), travelers are able to easily connect with neighboring citizens who have a car and accept to give rides. There is no need to call a cab when a friend, a neighbor, or somebody in your local vicinity would be happy to drive you where you need to go. Your neighbors may already be going to the same place and would love the opportunity to earn a small fee to help reimburse their car-ownership costs (which on average are a whopping $8000 per year)! A cab may charge $40 for a ride to the airport while a neighbor would do it for $20.
With Tickengo anybody who needs a ride can simply go to Tickengo.com (via web or mobile app) and send a ride request for an immediate or scheduled pick-up. The person needing a ride specifies a drop-off point, a date/time and personal preferences (for example a woman may prefer to ride only with another woman). The ride request is immediately sent to drivers who have registered as volunteers on the site and who match the requested criteria. The first driver on the list of recipients who accepts the ride gets it and two parties instantly connect with each other. The passenger receives a ticket and his credit card is charged once at destination. Both parties provide an evaluation of the other, making the community a trustworthy place.
The Tickengo experience is social, local, and mobile! It’s a perfect example of what can happen when citizens work together to improve their lives.
In the end, an eventual disappearance of taxis would not be much cause for sadness. Taxis are part of a regulated and monopolistic system. The fact that taxis are purposely made scarce through a limitation on the number of licenses in each city enables prices to be kept high and customer service to take a back seat. The reason that there are anti-trust laws is to encourage competition and avoid monopolies. Taxi services are part a legal oligopoly that is fantastic for owners but horrible for consumers. In the taxi industry, a large percentage of telephone calls for service result in no-shows. When one calls a company to order a cab, the person answering the phone is often impolite, brusque and inarticulate. There is much room for improvement.
Thanks to the sharing economy and technology, the transportation industry is about to undergo a major redesign. Taxi service is on the way out and will gradually be replaced by collaborative citizenry.