Millions of people commute to work by automobile. During rush hour, the majority of the cars heading into the city are single driver vehicles. Now the whole "car-pooling" concept never took off, probably because it was pushed by clueless bureaucrats who thought all they needed to make it work was a slogan plastered on billboards.
Here's how it can actually work. Commuters can load the app and set themselves up as commuters (as opposed to regular drivers) who can simply load in their workplace address. The ride will only be available to commuters who work within a block or so of that workplace address.
So basically the driver leaves his home in the morning and turns on the app. The route to work (without giving up the home address) is projected and those who live along the way can "flag" this vehicle for a ride.
In this manner, a commuter might pickup 2-3 additional people on the way, earning money to defray the expenses of the commute for that driver (i.e. parking, tools, gas, wear and tear) and the passengers will also benefit as the ride should be considerably cheaper then either taking their own car or taking a metro train, etc.
Repeat for the trip home.
The more people that do this, the less cars on the road and the faster the commute for everybody.
What will really help this work is if Uber/Lyft could work out consistent and reasonable rates for commuting fares (as opposed to the "surge pricing" model they use for one-off trips). This would encourage commuters to use the service. Maybe Uber/Lyft takes in less money with this application but they are earning goodwill by reducing congestion on the roadways during rush hours (give them tax breaks as well).
Also, Uber/Lyft needs to have a fail-safe, so if a commuter dedicated to car-pooling cannot find a ride in that day with another commuter, he/she will be guaranteed the same fare in a regular Uber ride.
Obviously there will be some kinks to work out but I think this model is a good one that will work well.
That app exists.
Ooh, also, so everyone knows..
.. I’ve been sitting for an hour with no calls. My food order today was a pain. It’s a lousy day so far.
It happens.
Uber has this but not in all cities. Its called Ride Pool. The premise is that I pick up passenger A and on my way to drop off passenger A, I get pinged for passenger B. I pickup passenger B. And so on until I fill up my car. Then I drop off each passenger and they all get charged accordingly. Uber has this, I think Lyft too but not sure. Also, you can schedule a pickup now with Uber.
The reason I don’t drive a luxury vehicle because the morons that order the lowest tier have no respect for your car whether its a beamer or a Corolla. The car is not theirs so they don’t care what they do in your car. SO whether you pay 65K or 25K your passengers do not respect your car.