Show HN: Hitch – Uber meets Public Transit

http://www.takehitch.com/download

by snir • 12 years ago

19 13 12 years ago

minimaxir• 12 years ago

How is this any different from Lyft? "Splitting a ride with even more strangers" isn't sufficient differentiation.

snir3• 12 years ago

Lyft pairs one passenger (or equivalently, one party) to one driver. We've built a system which will actually take your route into consideration, and pair you with additional passengers that are en-route (relative to you). In other words, your ride is shared with other people heading in the same direction you are.

While are drivers are for-hire at this phase (in order to provide a reliable and available supply-side), there is much higher utilization in the car as multiple riding parties are paired to it.

EDIT:

I see the question was changed slightly. Higher utilization makes all the difference. Our current public transit system is just as you've stated: a vehicle being shared by "more strangers" (in your own words). We envision our system creating a completely adaptive and dynamic transit grid, which lends itself to predominant way in which people get around in the future.

Jonovono• 12 years ago

It looks like you'd be splitting the ride with others so filling up more of the car and thus paying less. Perhaps even meeting others. Sounds like enough of a difference to me.

akgerber• 12 years ago

More like "dollar vans with an app". http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dollar_van

snir3• 12 years ago

Sure, in some sense :) This model exists under a number of names: Pesero, Jittney, Monit Sherut (to name a few). That said, it's not just an app that we've built. It's a system that can make dynamic decisions about which routes merit being paired together, and communicates with our drivers about any changes that need to be made to the current route. Of course, we take on-road safety into account, and so changes are only made while the vehicle is stationary.

sdholbs• 12 years ago

I took one of these from the mission to marina yesterday. I couldn't believe it was only ~$8. Next generation transportation

djloche• 12 years ago

For me the killer feature for Uber and Hitch is when they start using a driverless fleet.

haraball• 12 years ago

Somewhat related solution in Finland, bus-on-demand: http://www.goodnewsfinland.com/archive/news/call-a-bus-to-yo...

snir3• 12 years ago

Absolutely :) There are lot of systems like this that we took as inspiration. See my comment below on how we formalized this type of transit, and built something that can make more objective decisions as to whether the pairing "makes sense."

adrow• 12 years ago

Also reminds me of Halting State by Charlie Stross. The buses in that book have an auction system where people bid against each other for it to go to their stop next.

p00b• 12 years ago

Cool idea. What does this have to do with Public Transit though? It seems to me that a better description would be "Uber meets /Private/ Transit"

moskie• 12 years ago

Love this idea, been waiting for something like this.

Seems like Hitch is to Uber/Lyft as Casual Carpool is to taxis. Is that accurate?

Grue3• 12 years ago

It's crazy nobody did this before. Using passenger location data to create the most effective transportation routes is something that should've caught on by now.

Show HN: Hitch – Uber meets Public Transit

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