5 ms·

An AirBnB for travel

21 points by rafaelc 17y ago

edna_piranha 17y ago
My friend Catharine has a concept that is basically this idea at http://zerobaggage.com http://zerobaggage.com
- agentq 17y ago
  Is it really? Perhaps I'm missing something, but this service appears to have nothing to do with the blog author's post.
bemmu 17y ago
Somehow this seems to be an idea that comes up from time to time, I wonder if anyone has pulled off a successful service based on this yet. Just a few months ago I was talking to someone entering a business plan contest with this very idea.
- rafaelc 17y ago
  You should definitely tell your friend to do this idea -- I know I needed the service this weekend and there have been multiple times this would have helped!
- rwhitman 17y ago
  Yea I feel like I've seen at least a dozen sites that attempt to do this. Problem is none of them ever really took off
jasonlbaptiste 17y ago
Supply and Demand has to meet up especially in the early days. You'd also have to focus on a specific geography. Girls are going to be harder to attract to. I think it would be a useful service. Possibly tie it to events (like AirBnB did for the inauguration). My honest thought? Start it out as an email list like HARO. Emails queries of those looking for rides to people everyday.
stevenbedrick 17y ago
I wonder what the insurance implications of this would be... I'm pretty sure my auto insurance policy forbids me from using my car for business purposes, and this sounds uncomfortably close to that. On the other hand, I know that there's nothing wrong (insurance-wise) with accepting gas money from a friend... and, to push it further, if a friend of a friend needed a lift somewhere that I was already going, my insurance would probably be fine with that, and I'd definitely accept gas money in that situation...
- rafaelc 17y ago
  Oh, that's a great point about the insurance implications. There are also coordination issues, if you read the first comment on the blog post... And what if the person you're riding with is too chatty and you just wanted to nap the whole ride? :)
cschneid 17y ago
There are social problems here. It's awkward sitting next to a stranger for any amount of time. Even if the stranger has headphones on and is tuned out. It might just not be worth the 20 bucks in gas compared with the awkwardness.
- rafaelc 17y ago
  There are definitely some issues. But maybe you could specify your preference for a quiet vs. chatty person. Also, I'm anticipating this could help for people in a pinch as well. I know I would have put up with just about anything to get a non-bus ride up to Boston!
- mseebach 17y ago
  There's also the scheduling problem: One of the reasons going by car is attractive, is the flexibility of leaving exactly when you're ready, not a second sooner or later. If you're picking someone up, you have a certain pressure to do it somewhat close to the agreed time. Also, there's the risk of your passenger running late. Very few people will be ruthless enough to just take off without waiting for a while. Finally, there's insurance and taxi boards. The first can be handled (e.g. as a part of the booking process you buy a second policy covering the passenger or something like that), the second can't, and will kill this idea dead.
  - conorgil145 17y ago
    I am a senior at the University of Delaware and I live in New Jersey. There are a couple of underclassmen here at UD from my home town who don't have cars and I have given them rides during the holidays. Even driving across campus, setting up a time/place to meet, and making sure that our exam schedules coincide can be a hassle when I am ready to head out immediately but they are not. If I used this service and agreed to drive someone who did not show up for 15-20min I would be very annoyed and probably not use it again (even though I would be getting gas money). Perhaps they can develop in some kind of rating to describe how punctual previous users have been. Then, I could write on their profile that they were late and other people would be aware of their tendencies before they agreed to give them a lift. This wouldn't work for first time users of the service though, since they would have no history... Just a thought.
willbmoss 17y ago
Is this what you are looking for? http://goloco.org/ http://goloco.org/
callmeed 17y ago
First off, I think AirBnB already falls under "travel". This is just a rideshare idea. Craigslist has this already–if their rideshare section was as big as, say, their dating section then I'd say "great idea. make a site for it." ... but it isn't. For most people, I'm guessing the free gas does not outweigh the inconvenience of coordinating the pickup and/or going even slightly out of one's way. Great business ideas save people time and/or money. This is saving people a little money at the expense of their time.

21 points by rafaelc 17y ago

edna_piranha 17y ago

My friend Catharine has a concept that is basically this idea at http://zerobaggage.com http://zerobaggage.com

agentq 17y ago
Is it really? Perhaps I'm missing something, but this service appears to have nothing to do with the blog author's post.

bemmu 17y ago

Somehow this seems to be an idea that comes up from time to time, I wonder if anyone has pulled off a successful service based on this yet. Just a few months ago I was talking to someone entering a business plan contest with this very idea.

rafaelc 17y ago
You should definitely tell your friend to do this idea -- I know I needed the service this weekend and there have been multiple times this would have helped!
rwhitman 17y ago
Yea I feel like I've seen at least a dozen sites that attempt to do this. Problem is none of them ever really took off

jasonlbaptiste 17y ago

Supply and Demand has to meet up especially in the early days. You'd also have to focus on a specific geography. Girls are going to be harder to attract to. I think it would be a useful service. Possibly tie it to events (like AirBnB did for the inauguration). My honest thought? Start it out as an email list like HARO. Emails queries of those looking for rides to people everyday.

stevenbedrick 17y ago

I wonder what the insurance implications of this would be... I'm pretty sure my auto insurance policy forbids me from using my car for business purposes, and this sounds uncomfortably close to that. On the other hand, I know that there's nothing wrong (insurance-wise) with accepting gas money from a friend... and, to push it further, if a friend of a friend needed a lift somewhere that I was already going, my insurance would probably be fine with that, and I'd definitely accept gas money in that situation...

rafaelc 17y ago
Oh, that's a great point about the insurance implications. There are also coordination issues, if you read the first comment on the blog post... And what if the person you're riding with is too chatty and you just wanted to nap the whole ride? :)

cschneid 17y ago

There are social problems here. It's awkward sitting next to a stranger for any amount of time. Even if the stranger has headphones on and is tuned out. It might just not be worth the 20 bucks in gas compared with the awkwardness.

rafaelc 17y ago
There are definitely some issues. But maybe you could specify your preference for a quiet vs. chatty person. Also, I'm anticipating this could help for people in a pinch as well. I know I would have put up with just about anything to get a non-bus ride up to Boston!
mseebach 17y ago
There's also the scheduling problem: One of the reasons going by car is attractive, is the flexibility of leaving exactly when you're ready, not a second sooner or later. If you're picking someone up, you have a certain pressure to do it somewhat close to the agreed time. Also, there's the risk of your passenger running late. Very few people will be ruthless enough to just take off without waiting for a while. Finally, there's insurance and taxi boards. The first can be handled (e.g. as a part of the booking process you buy a second policy covering the passenger or something like that), the second can't, and will kill this idea dead.
- conorgil145 17y ago
  I am a senior at the University of Delaware and I live in New Jersey. There are a couple of underclassmen here at UD from my home town who don't have cars and I have given them rides during the holidays. Even driving across campus, setting up a time/place to meet, and making sure that our exam schedules coincide can be a hassle when I am ready to head out immediately but they are not. If I used this service and agreed to drive someone who did not show up for 15-20min I would be very annoyed and probably not use it again (even though I would be getting gas money). Perhaps they can develop in some kind of rating to describe how punctual previous users have been. Then, I could write on their profile that they were late and other people would be aware of their tendencies before they agreed to give them a lift. This wouldn't work for first time users of the service though, since they would have no history... Just a thought.

willbmoss 17y ago

Is this what you are looking for? http://goloco.org/ http://goloco.org/

callmeed 17y ago

First off, I think AirBnB already falls under "travel". This is just a rideshare idea. Craigslist has this already–if their rideshare section was as big as, say, their dating section then I'd say "great idea. make a site for it." ... but it isn't. For most people, I'm guessing the free gas does not outweigh the inconvenience of coordinating the pickup and/or going even slightly out of one's way. Great business ideas save people time and/or money. This is saving people a little money at the expense of their time.