Who would have thought that the humble carpooling idea would emerge into a fully fledged, environmentally conscious transportation alternative.
Meet Jayride: the website that allows vehicle owners to put their spare seats up for rent. Well not so much as rent but short term lease.
With its humble beginnings in Auckland, New Zealand some 2 short years ago, Jayride is now the place to go to find a cheap, spare seat in vehicles travelling between towns and cities all over New Zealand and Australia.
Their vision is to revolutionize the current transportation system by reducing the need for so many cars on the road. They believe that there are already so many vehicles sitting idle, wasting space, resources, and money; saying that, instead of cars we could have nice broad sidewalks, trees, parks, pedestrians and a more social atmosphere. They also rightly point out that our cities are planned around the car, and it’s a huge waste.
Jayride is in effect making transport into a service you can buy whenever you need it. They are offering an alternative to owning a car as you can now find a car to drive, or a ride to share, any time you like, to anywhere you want. Transport shouldn’t cost the earth, and Jayride are helping to make this a reality.
This is how it works. Let’s say I am going to drive down to Christchurch from Auckland. I list up my ride on Jayride and they connect me with people going my way. I can specify how many seats are spare and charge a price for each seat that I am selling. Travellers then request a seat on Jayride and away you go.
It’s more social, cleaner, greener, cheaper and way more fun that going it alone. It’s free to use and has loads of different types of vehicles including none other than Transfercar’s free to drive cars, campervans and motorhomes.
You can now request to drive a Transfercar vehicle and then list it up on Jayride to find people to share the expenses. Brilliant!
Like any service that involves strangers sharing a common space, safety is always in the forefront of everyone’s minds.
Some people are nervous about meeting strangers, and fair enough! So Jayride have a whole load of features designed to ensure that the people you’ll meet are trustworthy. To share a ride you must be a member and they validate your contact details. Also, check for trust badges: Different actions on Jayride can reward you with more trusted statuses, like “ID verified” or “Facebook verified”. Lastly, it’s worth noting that after 2 years running they have never had even one complaint about a member.
In this day and age I think we are all (well most of us) aware of the pressing need for alternative transportation options. We can’t ignore the fact that we are constantly polluting our environment with our careless use of new technologies, so new initiatives such as this are a welcome diversion to the current norm.
Good work Jayride!
Visit Jayride to buy a cheap seat now!
