Nice, honest article. Thanks. It's worth noting that Germany's 'Mitfahrgelegenheit' service [1] is highly successful, and includes many of the same features th

Nice, honest article. Thanks. It's worth noting that Germany's 'Mitfahrgelegenheit' service [1] is highly successful, and includes many of the same features that Ridejoy built. I've used it a few times to travel between cities (large and small) in Germany... it's primary advantage is price-- approximately 50% of the price of a rail ticket (cheaper for the passenger) and takes the edge off the $8/gallon gasoline prices for the driver. While price may be a motivating factor, there are numerous systemic differences that come to mind when comparing ridesharing in the US and in Germany, such as the shorter distance between all major cities (though perhaps similar to NE USA), as well as Germany's love for the cars and the autobahn. One other note: on one of the drives, I learned that the system nearly broke down due to "professional" drivers renting large vans and overselling tickets for each ride to ensure that the vans were full. Then, when enough passengers had arrived, the van left, leaving the remaining passengers hosed. Since you only pay at the end of the ride, passengers started overbooking themselves, hosing other drivers. In the end this was rectified by putting the cost of the trip into escrow from the time of booking to the end of the trip. 1. http://www.mitfahrgelegenheit.de/ http://www.mitfahrgelegenheit.de/