Take Two translates the day’s headlines for Southern California, making sense of the news and cultural events that affect our lives. Produced by Southern California Public Radio and broadcast from October 2012 – June 2021. Hosted by A Martinez.
Ride sharing aims to have a certain convenience to it. It allows normal drivers with cars to make money, it enables normal folks to take rides in nice vehicles from here to there and the whole ecosystem is maintained within a smartphone app.
Well, the three big ride sharing companies - Uber, Lyft and Sidecar - are all stepping up their game by starting to offer ride-share carpooling.
It works like this: If a customer is traveling from point A to C, and there's another customer traveling from B to C, or on the same path as the first customer, both will be picked up and the fair will decrease for each passenger, with rates varying between the companies.
Lyft hopes that their carpooling service, since it'll be cheaper than its standard service, will begin to replace public transportation for some commuters. That's according to Alice Truong from Fast Company. She recently joined Ben Bergman on the line to chat.
"All of these companies are cutting their fares because they just don't want you to choose them when you decide you don't to go parking, or for a night out on the town. They want to be a part of your daily life, like twice a day, commuting to and from work," she told Take Two.