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Well, interestingly if the concept became popular it would bankrupt itself through an oversupply of taxis. As for AirBnB, it's mostly a platform for dedicated

• __d 7y ago
  > Well, interestingly if the concept became popular it would > bankrupt itself through an oversupply of taxis. I'm not sure that'd be the outcome? If many/most people who own a vehicle make it available for shared use, then I guess there'd be price competition. If willingness to offer your vehicle was (a) motivated by price and (b) varied in its degree, you'd presumably hit a point where some people couldn't be bothered, and would withdraw from the system, reducing supply again. There's no real downside to the service provider of having more vehicles available, assuming their systems scale with minimal cost. I guess the question is whether the price point at which people become unwilling to share their vehicles is higher or lower than the cost of capital and maintenance for a dedicated taxi service. Which seems like it's a sufficiently difficult thing to predict that testing it in the market is probably the right answer :-) > As for AirBnB, it's mostly a platform for dedicated > rentals these days... That's my impression too. Which is a data point kinda in favour of the "dedicated" model. I'm not sure how the "tool sharing" businesses are going -- they might be another useful input?