[Editor's Note: Carpooling.com is Europe's largest ridesharing network. As CEO of carpooling.com, Markus Barnikel shares his views on the economic and environmental benefits of ridesharing.]
Technology news site PandoDaily recently issued a call to build a future without cars. The widely circulated blogpost said the basic technology that goes into manufacturing a car hasn’t changed since Karl Benz rolled his first Motorwagen off the line, concluding that we are worse off for continuing to be slaves to this 19th century product.
But until someone like Peter Thiel helps build and finance the first flying car or a jet-powered Segway, we should rather change how we view the car. As CEO of carpooling.com, I think one way to do this is through ridesharing.
Carpooling is as American as apple pie and the flag, except for one problem: Nobody carpools anymore. Carpooling has become to transportation what jazz is to music: invented in the U.S., but mostly appreciated everywhere else.
Carpooling began as a way for Americans to save money during the pre-World War II recession and has been in and out of vogue since then. As gas prices across the country remain north of four dollars per gallon, the question again presents itself: As the country that gave the world carpooling, can America regain its place as a leader in ridesharing?
For now, Europe holds this position. Countries like Germany are home to a number carpooling companies like carpooling.com and Mitfahrgelegenheit.de. These companies connect millions of ride-sharers each month, leading the peer-to-peer mobility space and changing transportation as we know it. Big name companies like ADAC — Europe’s largest automobile club —Deutsche Bahn and Eurolines are promoting carpooling as a way to ease both traffic and lung congestion. Even well-known German car manufacturers like Daimler, BMW and Volkswagen are getting in on the act -- all three launched car-sharing programs last year.
Granted, Europe is very different from the U.S., starting with the lower gas price. But there’s no reason ridesharing can’t be as wildly popular and successful here as it is across the Atlantic, especially at a time when reducing America's dependence on oil is so crucial. So many of the nation’s vehicles remain empty, each representing another car that could be taken off the road. There’s also an economic incentive — ridesharing could save the average American driver as much as $5,000 a year.
Americans tend to be resistant to turning the wheel over to someone they don’t know, out of fear of an accident. But the fact is that you do that every time you take a taxi, bus or subway, not to mention that even when you’re behind your own wheel, you are always at the mercy of other drivers. If carpooling is done right, you’ll likely have a better sense of the person driving a rideshare vehicle than you do a bus or taxi driver, and can even forge a relationship with them.
If Americans could arrange ridesharing as easily as they could check email or Facebook, you might see a shift. For carpooling to be successful, Americans need a rideshare network similar to the vast social networks that have sprung from the epicenter of innovation: Silicon Valley. The rideshare boards on Craigslist simply won’t cut it anymore. Zimride is a great resource in the U.S., but has such a strong focus on university and corporate campus ridesharing that it misses hundreds of millions of Americans driving solo, resulting in a lot of empty seats.
Germany and Karl Benz may have invented the automobile, but it was America and Henry Ford that popularized the vehicle through mass production, and it was through America’s eyes that the world learned to fall in love with the car. This is the country that gave us Route 66, On The Road and American Graffiti, not to mention a car-obsessed "autopia" like Los Angeles. By taking another automotive concept from Germany and applying it with its usual exceptionalism, the U.S. can help the world fall in love with the car all over again.
Photo of green bus with passengers by robert mobley via Shutterstock.
mericans tend to be proud of
mericans tend to be proud of its youth, they do not know, out of fear of the accident, the rotation of the wheels. But the fact is, every time you take a taxi, bus or subway, not to mention, even if you yourself behind the wheel, you are always other drivers mercy. If carpool is correct, you may be a better understanding of the bus or a taxi driver driving the carpool vehicles than you do, or even to establish a relationship with them.
I don't feel that this
I don't feel that this article gets to the root of the issue behind the American worker carpooling, which is fear. Not the fear of the competency of your fellow driver as the article addresses. The fear is the inability to have control over your own schedule. For those who regularly take public transit, this fear is lessened as they are already at the mercy of the system - they've learned to bend. But those without access to public transit are not as bendable. Between the need to come in earlier, stay later and (heaven forbid) maybe even leave early on a workday, people simply don't have the schedule to accommodate carpooling these days. And if you have kids, forget about it. What if they get sick or have a field trip, etc.? In all of these scenarios, if you carpooled, you're stuck.
Carpooling is not an issue of want or need, I believe most American workers would love to carpool given the opportunity. What we first must fix is reintroducing the importance of the 40-hour work week and personal lives so that it's possible.
It's 8:00am and you're on
It's 8:00am and you're on your way to work. Your navigation system or phone knows you are going to work at this time since you programmed it to know this, and it gives you traffic updates and optimal routes to take. Then your navi bings and announces you have a rideshare request. It's on your way, and the navi has already calculated that it will add exactly 11 minutes to your 30 minute commute. It also informs you that the carpooler has already shared 85 rides before and has a 99% positive rating, so why not trust them? You don't need to be in till 9:00, so you accept the carpool request and follow the updated directions. Now, you have one more carpool buddy in your alliance, gas has been saved, less carbon emitted, and the world is a better place.
I think everything in the above scenario is easily possible with current technologies. It's just the carpooling network that needs to be reinforced, as the article points out. The most unlikely thing in my scenario, I guess, is that you'd be early going into work, haha. But hey, it's the future. Anything can happen, right?
Great article on ridesharing
Great article on ridesharing and carpooling but the statement about Zimride (www.zimride.com) is a little misleading. While Zimride started out partnering with universities and corporate campuses it now has thousands of rides shared each week outside of universities and corporations in some of the country's largest cities (San Francisco and Los Angeles to name a few). Hopefully, with more attention and competition focused on ridesharing in the U.S. we'll see great growth in the number of people sharing rides throughout the country.