
Introducing Driver Destination - kyleslattery
http://blog.lyft.com/posts/2014/11/24/become-a-lyft-driver-on-your-way-to-work-introducing-driver-destination
======
kalvin
I'm happy Lyft is demonstrating that it actually cares about its core/founding
values of decreasing car usage.

They could have viewed this as a distraction to expanding its existing
dedicated-driver model, in order to better compete against Uber. (Lyft Line is
just multiple passengers; Sidecar already does "driver destination" aka real
carpooling, but they're also playing a different game focusing on drivers in
general, and don't have the scale Lyft does)

If they can get traction, they'll have cracked a problem that many people have
tried to solve and failed at: how do you get Americans to carpool?

Context: Lyft's founders pivoted into Lyft from Zimride after five years of
building white-labeled carpool sites for colleges/companies + a public long-
distance carpool/rideshare board, and discovering that a) that's not a VC-
scale business, and b) 90% of Americans don't "do" traditional carpooling and
they're not about to start

Anyway, I use Lyft over Uber when possible for many reasons, but this is one--
they started out trying to improve society in a particular way, and still are,
even as they've changed their approach. And I think they should be commended
for setting an example for how to achieve an activist-y goal through a
startup/company. Or since it's not achieved yet, at least trying.

(I have no affiliation with Lyft, see my profile.)

~~~
onion2k
_b) 90% of Americans don 't "do" traditional carpooling and they're not about
to start_

90% of Americans didn't pay non-professional strangers for a ride before Uber
came along. 90% of Americans didn't share what they were having for lunch
before Instagram. 90% of Americans didn't share the hilarious list of "cats
who forgot how to cat" before Buzzfeed.

The point being it's pretty much impossible to predict what product will be a
success based on past market behaviour. Saying something won't work is very
often right, but it's a sucky reason not to try.

~~~
enraged_camel
Your overall point is correct but I don't think it applies here.

There are deep cultural reasons for why carpooling hasn't become popular in
America. From what I have observed as a foreigner, people in this country love
their big personal spaces, and their cars are a part of that. It's related to
why public transportation isn't popular: most people don't want to sit within
such close proximity to strangers.

~~~
berkay
In my experience it's mostly due to convenience. When public transportation is
available and more convenient, it's heavily used. It needs to be available
everywhere and all/most of the time. Car pooling is similar, coordinating with
other people, leaving home/work at the same time everyday is difficult, not
convenient. If Lyft is widely used, it can solve this problem. No need to have
advanced plans. In fact, in Washington DC, I can see people offering these
rides for free to a second person in the car and use the HOV lanes. This is
already done from fixed locations without the help of an app. Lyft would make
it so much easier.

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eli
Shared carpooling (called "slugging" here) has a been a viable commuting
option for people in the DC area for decades. No money changes hands; the
point is that a car with 3+ people can use the much faster HOV lanes.

[http://www.slug-lines.com/Slugging/About_slugging.asp](http://www.slug-
lines.com/Slugging/About_slugging.asp)

~~~
cwilson
The thing is, I've never heard that term until now. I lived in the DC area for
two years and worked with quite a few commuters. It's cool that it's a concept
but there hasn't been mainstream adoption to the point where it's as easy as
an app in your pocket until now.

If a tree falls in the woods...

~~~
rhino369
It's a fairly ubiquitous concept in DC. Hell, the website Zoe goes to work
from in House of Cards is named after it.

~~~
eli
Hm, I'd assumed that was a reference to the newspaper/typesetting term
"slugline". But maybe it's both.

~~~
ghaff
I'm not sure the "slugline" term is common for that meaning; it's typically
(don't know how widely it's still used) just slug. But it's a pretty obvious
and clever derived term to combine slug and headline and come up with
slugline.

Slug line (two words) is apparently a screenwriting term--which I didn't know.

~~~
eli
I don't think slugline was derived from headline. On old linotype machines,
the slug was literally a line of metal.

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allendoerfer
Flinc [0], a start-up from Germany, does exactly this but in real time, too.
It can hook up with the drivers navigation software so they are only asked to
pick someone up, when it does not change their own route.

I highly prefer this model over the classic Uber/Lyft service, because it
actually delivers on the promises of the sharing economy. Resources are
shared, from which both parties and the general public benefit. Its not just
taxis with lower wages.

Of course, critical mass is a bigger problem with this model, but there is the
obvious entry point of white-label ride sharing platforms for companies, which
flinc does, too.

I think, it is about as cool as it gets, until I get my self-driving car,
which transports passengers on-demand the whole day after it drove me to work,
from time to time being recharged on inductive parking spots, powered by green
energy.

[0]: [https://flinc.org/](https://flinc.org/)

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fraserharris
The messaging here is off. "Driver Destination" implies it has generalized
applications -> be a Lyft driver where ever you are going. In practice, they
need to get traction in the one big market for this: commuters. Better
marketing will call it what it is: Lyft Commute - share a ride from home to
work

(claiming the product name 'Commute' also stops Uber from using it)

~~~
RockyMcNuts
Works anywhere there are a lot of people on similar route, not necessarily
commute.

Drop someone off at airport, pick someone up who's going near your house or
anywhere along your route.

Same for big game, weekend rush to the beach communities, other events.

It's a good natural counterbalance for 'surge pricing', since whenever there
is big demand there are probably people on overlapping routes.

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awwstn
This is really great – though I wonder if Lyft runs the risk of people making
the connection once (i.e. finding a person with similar commute
times/locations who is willing to pay for rides) and deciding to arrange a
paid carpool that doesn't go through Lyft.

~~~
greenpizza13
I think when you read the safety guidelines this idea is a non-starter. Using
Lyft you get guaranteed payment, 1M of insurance while driving someone else,
and the app tracking your location and keeping you safe. When you circumvent
the system you take on a lot of risk, especially if the person you are driving
gets injured.

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DigitalSea
I am late to the Lyft party, but after recently leaving Uber because I did not
agree with their questionable business ethics and attitude toward their
customers, I must say I find the whole Lyft experience somewhat refreshing.

Funnily enough, my first Lyft driver I had a week or so ago was telling me he
leaves home a couple of hours earlier, does a couple of trips close by to his
work and then on the way home from work he turns the app on and most of the
time he is fortunate to get a ride that is going the same direction, so it
pays his way home.

Not an entirely new premise, car-pooling has always been a thing, but for my
driver (his name was Brett) this is going to be an awesome feature and I
imagined many other Lyft drivers. I like the feature of the app that allows
you to tip drivers a little something extra when a driver has gone beyond what
you are paying them for. In my first experience, Brett offered me and my
pregnant wife a muesli bar, bottled water and even held an umbrella for us
while we got in and out of the car.

Seriously good job Lyft, you have a superior app/service and great drivers,
you just need to get the numbers up and get some more brand awareness.

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Rambition
20 years ago, I lived in a house that had a city implemented carpool pickup
spot in the East Bay - every morning carpoolers would line up and wait for a
rid into SF to get through via the carpool lane, back when the toll was only
$2.

Since it was city property, I don't believe my parents got anything out of it,
and we couldn't park in front of our house Mon - Fri mornings, my brother did
have the enterprising idea of selling coffee in the mornings, much like a
lemonade stand with a forced audience.

Seems like there was a demand for this type of service 20 years back though,
interesting to see it is still an issue that companies are looking to solve
today.

~~~
mikeyouse
That still happens very widely, it's a bit more formalized today:

[http://sfcasualcarpool.com/](http://sfcasualcarpool.com/)

Paying is optional, usually the passengers throw the driver a dollar or two,
but it's pretty widespread:

[https://www.google.com/maps/d/u/0/viewer?vpsrc=6&ll=37.84829...](https://www.google.com/maps/d/u/0/viewer?vpsrc=6&ll=37.84829,-122.266159&t=m&ie=UTF8&msa=0&spn=0.216881,0.479965&z=11&mid=zql22s-6L4ys.kPiNnZXPWtzo)

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smokey_the_bear
This could work really well for things like getting to Tahoe on the weekends
too.

~~~
evanb
In that case, most people would want to ensure round-trips, though.

~~~
r00fus
That's not an issue with going to work?

This ride-sharing idea only works if both ends of the trip have sufficient
traffic to promote carpooling.

~~~
mikeash
Within major metro areas there are many options for getting home, from car
sharing to regular taxis to busses and trains. The same does not apply to a
trip to Tahoe.

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nostromo
The TechCrunch article is much more informative.

[http://techcrunch.com/2014/11/25/lyft-driver-
destination/](http://techcrunch.com/2014/11/25/lyft-driver-destination/)

~~~
findjashua
not a statement you get to hear very often!

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jrkelly
So lyft for the burbs and uber for the cities, then? Burbs require non-
professional drivers (i.e. daily commuters) to become drivers since ride
request density isn't high enough to support professional drivers.

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tcdent
Having grown up with California's carpool lanes (a lane reserved for vehicles
with two or more riders) I've always expected the number of commuters that are
able to take advantage of it has to be minimal. In my experience, having that
additional passenger only happens on special occasions; it never happens on
the morning commute. This is what the carpool lane has always needed to be
successful; networking.

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mmanfrin
Man, I was thinking about this _last night_ , how I could use my morning and
evening commutes to take people home on my way home -- since I'd either stay
in the city (killing time for traffic to die down), or be paid to sit in my
normal evening traffic home across the bay. Only hiccup would be if I had a
fare taking me to the south bay, but that seems a reasonable gamble.

~~~
prawn
Same with me this morning. Drove past someone at a bus stop and thought
"They're going to sit there for another 10+ minutes, then pay $3+ to get to
their destination with a stop every couple of blocks. Meanwhile, I'm going
past right now using one seat out of five."

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kosei
Very interesting. The most important thing to me personally is convenience,
which is an itch that I believe this scratches. If I'm able to input that I'm
going somewhere and this will help automatically direct me to people I can
pickup and drop off on the way, it avoids the huge hassle of coordination.
Additionally, it (presumably) helps with the issue of liability?

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michaelvkpdx
Trying to charge people for carpooling, something we've traditionally done for
free. The "sharing economy" isn't about sharing- it's about monetizing free
things and taking a cut.

This is not in any way improving humanity. It's a step backwards.

~~~
grimtrigger
> we've traditionally done for free

I don't have stats, but my guess is that most people don't carpool. So
traditionally we haven't done it at all.

~~~
seizethecheese
This is especially true about carpooling with a stranger. Generally,
carpooling now happens with neighbors/coworkers, which isn't exactly the same
use-case as this.

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monksy
That seems like it's going after a very small segment of the market.

~~~
mahyarm
It will be, but it is appealing to a large casual set of the market, and it
could reduce congestion significantly in a city if it gets enough traction.

~~~
jdawg77
Can't up-vote this one enough; worked at a startup for a while tackling all
sorts of traffic related stuff with proprietary IP, industry veterans & more.
Suffice to say that there are tons of papers out there which clearly say
taking N% of the number of cars off the road reduces congestion by Y% - a very
much larger impact than the number of cars taken off.

This is because traffic, in general, is really caused by a small number of
cars. It seems like it's everywhere but the root cause (there was a paper even
on HN that talked about it) is that people can't follow each other at an even
speed. This uneven speed then results in more braking, more backup, etc. A few
cars in the lead who don't accelerate properly can have a disproportionately
negative impact on traffic flow and average speed.

~~~
jordanthoms
It's the same problem with queues - the people at the front don't have as much
incentive to move quickly, since they're already at the front of the queue.

Probably the only way to really solve it is autonomous cars.

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judk
I remember when this was called carpooling. Weird to put the branding on it.
But these days nothing counts unless it's in service of some corporate brand.

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DINKDINK
Sidecar has had this functionality for a long time.

~~~
cheeze
While that may be true, Sidecar isn't in many locations. It looks like it is
in Seattle, however I've never heard of it until now, nor do I know anybody
that uses it...

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muzz
This is more inline with what the founders worked on originally, a ride-
sharing service called ZimRide

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belzebub
In a similar vein this could be used to replace restaurant delivery drivers.

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zyxley
Procedural carpooling. Neat.

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zan2434
This is brilliant. Lyft is doing everything right as of late.

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unicornporn
So, will this work in Sweden? The Google Play page says nothing about
geographical restrictions, but it speaks about "DMV checks" which I have no
idea what it is.

Seems Americans sometimes forget that the internet is a global network.

~~~
cheeze
Is Lyft in Sweden as it is? While I agree that many things on the internet are
America-centric, it wouldn't surprise me that a company based in America makes
an announcement about a feature that they are rolling out, in America.

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pinaceae
ass backwards. you want the next bn dollar idea?

while I am at work, my car sits in the parking lot of the building for
8-10hours, unused.

i don't want to be a lyft/uber driver. i want MY CAR to work for uber/lyft in
its off hours. have a driver pick it up in the morning at the office, then
return it when i want to get home (full gas tank and cleaned car for an extra
fee).

someone takes this and get rich.

~~~
cylinder
how is someone going to get to your workplace to pickup the car (assuming you
are talking about a suburban office park and not a CBD/downtown)

~~~
Gravityloss
A friend of mine interviewed for a van-deliverer job very many years ago. He
would put a bicycle into the van, drive the van to the customer, ride the bike
back to the depot and pick the next van and repeat. The customer would drive
with the van for the day. Then the reverse in the evening.

