Hitchhike Registry
Monday, July 14, 2008
At a time when we're all looking for ways to conserve energy and reduce transportation costs, it's too bad that the easiest, oldest, and most natural way to carpool, called hitchhiking, is actually illegal!
I guess it's illegal because it's considered unsafe. But why is getting into a taxi with a stranger any safer? Because taxi drivers are licensed, so they can be tracked and held accountable.
So why don't we start a national hitchhiker licensing system too? Both the ride giver as well as the ride taker would have licenses... at the start of a ride you each show your license and send a text message to the registry saying "#35469 giving ride to #24350". Now it's logged and traceable, and you're as safe as a taxi.
Hitchhiking is more than just good for the environment and road traffic; it's good for humanity, because cars are so isolating. You have no opportunity to see or talk to people when you're driving a car. That's why New York is so exciting for the rest of America... the novelty of seeing and passing people on the sidewalk touches on a deep need for human interaction that goes mostly unfulfilled in the rest of the USA. Hanging out at the mall is a sorry excuse for a social scene because it's private property with commercial interests at heart, and that poisons the nature of the experience and strongly preselects the types of people who enter.
But for those who can only enjoy their human desires when dollar values are attached, we could optionally monetize the system so that the ride taker's account is billed and the ride giver's account is credited when the text message is received. The money transfer would obviously only take place when the text is received from the ride taker's phone, and a confirmation text would be sent to the ride giver.
So let's go! It's time for a national hitchhike registry! This isn't some magic future technology with dubious benefits, it isn't a bogus gas taxcut, it's a real solution that's ready to go here and now. Bush, congressmen, senators, make it happen! I guess it's illegal because it's considered unsafe. But why is getting into a taxi with a stranger any safer? Because taxi drivers are licensed, so they can be tracked and held accountable.
So why don't we start a national hitchhiker licensing system too? Both the ride giver as well as the ride taker would have licenses... at the start of a ride you each show your license and send a text message to the registry saying "#35469 giving ride to #24350". Now it's logged and traceable, and you're as safe as a taxi.
Hitchhiking is more than just good for the environment and road traffic; it's good for humanity, because cars are so isolating. You have no opportunity to see or talk to people when you're driving a car. That's why New York is so exciting for the rest of America... the novelty of seeing and passing people on the sidewalk touches on a deep need for human interaction that goes mostly unfulfilled in the rest of the USA. Hanging out at the mall is a sorry excuse for a social scene because it's private property with commercial interests at heart, and that poisons the nature of the experience and strongly preselects the types of people who enter.
But for those who can only enjoy their human desires when dollar values are attached, we could optionally monetize the system so that the ride taker's account is billed and the ride giver's account is credited when the text message is received. The money transfer would obviously only take place when the text is received from the ride taker's phone, and a confirmation text would be sent to the ride giver.
Comments