Originally Posted by
tandempower
Or the ride-share network could fund/subsidize it, i.e. the way Amazon was subsidizing delivery vans for their contractors.
The app would obviously keep track of where the vehicle is. Drivers would have to leave the car someplace authorized by the network if there was no other driver to take it over. If nothing else, the person who wants to get up the next morning to use it would meet the last driver of the evening somewhere to pick up the car.
Oh that sounds convenient.
So ...
8 am - I use my car to get to university. On the way I pick up another student also going to university who pays me nothing. I park at the university (parking fees).
9 am - Someone picks up my car and drives into north Hobart.
10 am - I don't have a car because it is in north Hobart, so I have to walk to work.
5 pm - I still don't have a car because it's out in Sorell, so I have to take the bus home.
The car travels around Hobart and greater Hobart throughout the day and finally ends up in New Norfolk late in the evening.
9 pm - I realise that I'm going to need to get to the university early.
Now I've got a couple choices:
A) I can take the early bus to the university and try to track down my car later in the day if I've got time ... but I do have work and I've got an assignment coming due which I need to work on in the evening. Maybe someone will drive it into my vicinity but if not, I'll just walk or take the bus.
B) Rather than doing my homework, I use a combination of bus and taxi to travel the 50 km out to New Norfolk to get my car and drive home ... arriving home shortly before midnight. I realise that my fuel tank is now empty because people have been using my car all day, and I've got to get up even earlier so that I can swing by a service station on the way to university. I squeeze an hour of homework in before collapsing into bed exhausted knowing I'd better get some sleep because I need to be up at 6:30 am in order to fork over $80 to fill my car with fuel I'll hardly use.
And another day. And another day.