[twelve40]

I like the general idea but don't completely get it

> just happens to be requesting a ride along a similar route > Uber from the Castro to the Financial District

Isn't 90% of the time it's like, one person goes to the Financial District, and the other one will just drop off Mid-Market, or just a few blocks towards SOMA, thank you?

So do you get stuck waiting until there is a person with just the same exact route, or how is this partially-overlapping ride determined and split? You detour a few blocks to the right to accommodate the "nearby SOMA" person? But what if the original person says, screw SOMA, I'm not paying or waiting for any detours, I need to get to FD on a straight line asap.

Sounds pretty hard, matching millions of similar but different routes.

[bobbles]

I know if the price was cheap enough I'd definitely be willing to put up with slightly longer pickup delays

(considering that it'd probably still be faster than normal taxis around here)

[netcan]

I think you can look at it as (convenience + quality)/price.

Different people evaluate & value those three differently. To get a customer that equation needs to yield a higher value than the next best thing. To win in a a market completely, you need to tick all three boxes. Better, cheaper, faster.

Uber focused on high quality early on, the limo market. They beat limos for price and convenience (the competition sucked) and matched the quality. More expensive than taxis, but better quality (nicer car). As the network grew, "convenience" went up, fast pickup times. They expanded downmarket (lower price & quality) with uberXand to take on Taxis.

I think this ridesharing/carpooling, if it works well might find an unserved niche somewhere between Taxis and public transport.

A next step might be something close to public transport. Basically minibuses running something similar to shuttles between hotels and airports. Most cities have these. They are possible because hotels can coordinate. That's why they are more common between the hotel and the airport than the other way around. There are probably lots of other use cases that are just missing the coordination.

[garethsprice]

> A next step might be something close to public transport. Basically minibuses running something similar to shuttles between hotels and airports.

There's also a huge and mostly hidden network of "dollar vans" in cities with large immigrant populations, private operators serving areas not touched by public transport routes. Not saying that Uber will expand this far downmarket, but interesting to note that what you describe exists in some form already.

http://mashable.com/2014/04/10/dollar-vans-new-york/