San Francisco to Silicon Valley, California, Instant Ridesharing with Transfer Hub

Abstract

A concept of operations is provided for an innovative instant ridesharing service to exploit the large San Francisco (SF) Bay Area major employer commuter flow from SF to Silicon Valley in California. Although the concept of filling empty seats in cars seems obvious, 15 previous dynamic or instant ridesharing pilot programs have failed to develop critical mass. The proposed service differs from past attempts because (a) it targets a large commuter flow vector rather than a two-dimensional area and results in a higher probability of ride matches; (b) it uses a midcommute transfer hub to further increase ride matching probabilities; (c) it offers a viable business model that provides $40 per day per commuter cost savings to Silicon Valley employers; (d) it uses psychological persuasion principles to obtain higher participant commitment; (e) it uses daily financial incentives to motivate participants; and (f) through extensive participant training, it emphasizes immediate high system utilization on the first day of operation.