Web-Based Carpooling Startups

Web-Based Carpooling Startups

I thought that this was an interesting new application for Web 2.0 tools- carpooling.  Companies subscribe to the service for their employees, who can then search the database for people who have similar travel schedules.  The advantage to this service is that you can find people who travel your general route even though they may not work in the same company.

The main drawback to this service, as I see it, is that carpooling isn’t just about getting from point A to point B.  You’re trapped in a car with someone for 30 minutes to an hour, all sorts of different factors some into play – the most obvious of which being safety but also the fact that I have to sit right next to a perfect stranger for an hour.  I wonder if they have features that allow people to state what kind of rider they are (talker or non talker), and then let their carpool buddies rate their attractiveness as a carpool partner (did they stiff you on gas money, do they only shower every 3rd day, were they a safe driver?).  I’m all for technological networks and I believe that – in theory – a service like this might be better than relying on who you know personally.   The problem is that (with carpooling at least) it makes it hard to back out if its not a good fit.  The person knows who you are and where you work and you’ll have to tell them electronically at least  “I don’t like riding with you…find someone else.”  I think I’d want some advance sense of who I’m letting into my car.   The death of old-style face-to-face networks have been greatly exaggerated.