On one side are the municipal bus companies. The left has showered them with monopoly status and government-subsidies. Politicians love them because what could be a better way of collecting bribes and favors than negotiating a renewal of some company's monopoly rights, not that any our honest politicians would ever actually do that.
On the other side are websites, like PickupPal, which arrange "ride-sharing." They offer to match you with "pickup pals" who have "friendly faces." However, what they offer is not exactly the usual left-liberal idea of "sharing": drivers and passengers negotiate fees for service.
Now, the bus companies, with their monopoly status, are suing the ride-sharing websites claiming that those websites are offering, at least under Canadian law, an unlicensed competing service. In Canada, the Ontario Highway Transportation Board (OHTB) reportedly has shut-down all such "ride-sharing" organizations that have appeared before it. Currently, PickupPal is the only one left and their hearing is scheduled for October 15, 2008.
Normally, the left would prefer "mass transit" over a private limousine service, such as PickupPal, but, in a piece of brilliant marketing, PickupPal convinced Canadian Environmental Minister Christine Stewart that PickupPal is "eco-friendly" and "CO₂ reducing". This has turned the tables as, normally, it is the "mass transit" companies that claim the mantle of being "eco-friendly," something that is hard to believe as those smog-belching buses drive by you on a street. PickupPal's marketing move is all the more impressive considering that, for all Ms. Stewart knows, your "pickup pal" could be driving a dreaded SUV.
This battle over monopolist rights is not limited to Canada. A French bus company, TSE, "sued several French cleaning women for car pooling and even petitioned the French government to confiscate their cars." The UK Guardian has more on this.
On the other side are websites, like PickupPal, which arrange "ride-sharing." They offer to match you with "pickup pals" who have "friendly faces." However, what they offer is not exactly the usual left-liberal idea of "sharing": drivers and passengers negotiate fees for service.
Now, the bus companies, with their monopoly status, are suing the ride-sharing websites claiming that those websites are offering, at least under Canadian law, an unlicensed competing service. In Canada, the Ontario Highway Transportation Board (OHTB) reportedly has shut-down all such "ride-sharing" organizations that have appeared before it. Currently, PickupPal is the only one left and their hearing is scheduled for October 15, 2008.
Normally, the left would prefer "mass transit" over a private limousine service, such as PickupPal, but, in a piece of brilliant marketing, PickupPal convinced Canadian Environmental Minister Christine Stewart that PickupPal is "eco-friendly" and "CO₂ reducing". This has turned the tables as, normally, it is the "mass transit" companies that claim the mantle of being "eco-friendly," something that is hard to believe as those smog-belching buses drive by you on a street. PickupPal's marketing move is all the more impressive considering that, for all Ms. Stewart knows, your "pickup pal" could be driving a dreaded SUV.
This battle over monopolist rights is not limited to Canada. A French bus company, TSE, "sued several French cleaning women for car pooling and even petitioned the French government to confiscate their cars." The UK Guardian has more on this.
1 comment:
What an interesting post. I have not heard that perspective on this issue and to tell you the truth it is kinda cool. I am one of the founders of PickupPal and I wish we/I could take the credit for such an ingenious plan but it is not as intentionally clever as you have put it. Christine Stewart is my business partner - John Stewart's mother and one of our earliest supporters and inspiration for creating PickupPal. John's Mother signed the Kyoto Protocol on behalf of Canada a decade ago and since then there has not been that much movement towards meeting that goal on the part of the Canadian Government. John and I thought that we could tap into an economic force that would provide environmental benefit by having people see carpooling and ridesharing as a way to sell a seat in their car. Hence the tag line - "Drivers and Passengers
connecting online. Saving money and the environment at the same time!"
Thanks a lot for taking the time to write such an interesting take on this topic.
Cheers.
Eric Dewhirst
CTO and Co-Founder of PickupPal
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