Unless you grew up in a major city, you probably haven’t thought about outsourcing your transportation. That was before the age of Uber and Lyft. Now a lot of us currently think of uber and Lyft as a better way of getting a taxi. The concept actually dates back over a hundred years to what were known as jitneys. They were very popular in San Francisco and elsewhere.
The idea was simple in that you have a vehicle and you share the cost for that vehicle by offering rides to people. Now, originally the jitneys were killed off by a regulation. But in today’s Internet age of Uber and Lyft, I think the concept of ride sharing is here to stay. The future of these types of companies is actually different than a improved taxi services. They’re moving towards the idea of outsourced transportation. Now the concept is actually a little different, but it’s simple.
Car Usage
People who own cars only use their cars on average about three to five percent of the time. The cost of maintaining a car for the course of a year, a ranges anywhere from $6,000 to $9,000 depending on the make and model. So in theory, if you outsource your transportation and either didn’t own your own car or you shared the cost of a car, you could potentially get up to a thousand rides annually versus the cost of maintaining a car itself.
For now the idea of outsourcing your transportation is largely depended on geography and population density. If you live out in the country, outsourcing your transportation might be harder than if you live in a major city. You’re already seeing it on a small scale in college towns through zip car or related services. It’s also showing up in larger communities in general such as Boston and in New York.
As both of these concepts grow, the third dimension of outsourced transportation is coming with autonomous vehicles. Now you are only paying for the vehicle and not the driver. This expands options for rural areas and reduces the cost of the service. Think about how much more you could do if you didn’t have to drive yourself to most activities.
