[Newtopian]

We had a similar service 20-30 years ago operating mostly out of Quebec and Ontario (Canada). Sadly regulators did not see it very kindly (http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/province-stops-allo-stop-1.211...). Story does not say though how thik was the kraft envelop that was exchanged, if there was ever such exchange, or was just an overzealous civil servant. The service had been operating for some time already and was quite successful and popular. That decision came out of nowhere and the service was forced to stop operations. All this well before smart phones apps and the web... well technically the web was present but the service had started well before that and was mostly operating with phone calls to an actual office and bulletin boards and such.

For Allo-Stop yes there was exchange of money but the amounts were such that it would be barely more than the split expenses for gas for the trip.

Wonder if this will be allowed, seeing how Uber is being forced to get taxi licences and such for it's drivers, I doubt this will go very far around here.

[ttul]

In British Columbia, I'm sure the taxi lobby is already lining the pockets of politicians to prevent Waze Carpool from happening.

[cornholio]

>The board found the Montreal-based company was illegally competing with the Voyageur, Greyhound and Trentway bus companies.

>Felix D'Mello is with the Ontario Highway Transport Board, which controls passenger transportation in the province. He says because money is exchanged, it's a public transportation service, and that breaks the rules.

What a revolting crock of crap - politicians outright protecting established business interests. I guess in such locations Google can still implement a free service, and let users settle the price themselves, it's suboptimal but regulators can't outright kill it, unlike Uber.