Uber and other services are all the rage these days, and though they call themselves “ride sharing” services, let's be honest—they're really just unlicensed taxicabs. But what if you integrated the ride sharing service into one of the popular GPS navigation apps?
You put in your destination, and specify whether you're a driver or a rider. If you're a driver, the system looks for riders going more or less the same direction as you, and if it finds a match it asks if you're interested in going X minutes out of your way to make $Y. The price of the ride would be calculated based primarily on how far out of your way you have to travel, rather than the distance of the ride (though on longer trips it may have the passenger kick in a bit extra for gas).
This ends up being a better deal all around—the driver, who was going to make the trip anyway, makes a few bucks; the rider gets a cheaper ride; and the service takes a commission for arranging the ride and handling payment.-- ytk, Jun 11 2015 Baked. https://flinc.org/At least (aptly) half baked. [Toto Anders, Jun 12 2015] Toss in some unobnoxious advertising, and the service doesn't even need to take a commission to cover its expenses.-- 21 Quest, Jun 11 2015 I think it would be better if this service were operated by a non-profit. Many similar services have come along, only to disappear into irrelevance due to overzealous attempts at profitization.-- Spacecoyote, Jun 11 2015 Any nonprofit big enough to get the word out about this would be awfully wary of lawsuits in the event a driver harms a rider. Look at the lawsuits against Uber.-- 21 Quest, Jun 12 2015 Well of course they would need liability insurance (and the insurance would probably require background checks, which are probably a good idea anyway) but a relatively small membership fee could cover that. Other organizations follow a similar model, for instance the NRA.-- Spacecoyote, Jun 12 2015 Hey, if anyone's heading for hell in a handbasket there's room on the back seat next to my career.-- MaxwellBuchanan, Jun 12 2015 The Helena Handbaskets are a triple-A club; they might be hiring. I'll check for you.-- lurch, Jun 13 2015 //career// n. Rushing downwards, out of control, often terminating in a crash.-- pocmloc, Jun 13 2015 random, halfbakery