Ask Me For A Lift! A public public service initiative idea

While I was driving down to office in my car one day, I thought struck me. There were people waiting on the bus stops for buses that would take the same route as I was going to take. I could pick some of the folks and drop them on the way or half the distance till my destination.

The Disconnect

They could have asked me for a lift and I would have happily pulled over to pick them up. But very few people actually ask for a lift because they are afraid of being turned down. Nobody likes being dejected. This even hurts the ego.

On the other hand, I could have taken the first step by pulling over and asking if anyone wanted a drop somewhere on the way. I did not do that as I was not sure if people were waiting for public transport or their office provided one; ‘coz in the later case they would have just turned me down. Also, very rarely do we see someone stopping by himself to offer lift; and if someone does, are we not skeptical about it?

The Problem

This disconnect is the problem. Its a kind of communication gap as I did not know who is interested in taking a lift and they did not know that I was willing to help.

The Solution

I realized that the onus has be on me to bridge this gap to offer a lift. If I had a sticker on my windscreen that had “ASK ME FOR A LIFT” printed on it in a brightly colored, readable-from-20meters font, they would know my intent.

But this still requires them to know what this A.M.F.A.L is all about and what it really means to them.

Ask-me-for-a-lift.com!!

Is there a way to use the power of the virtual world to bridge this gap and use the power of networking to spread the word?
What if there is a portal that explains the cause, lets people register to offer lift, download and print stickers for their cars, provide commuters the timings and routes of volunteers they could use and send them a thank you message later?

I think this would really help spread the word and add more volunteers. The portal could also display a count of total lifts offered & kilometers of shared travel till date.

Problem with car pooling

The idea is a slight modification of car-pooling which is very restrictive in nature. It requires the poolers to leave from the same place (or the same route), have the same destination and have the same timings… daily! What if the guy who gets his car goes on a leave or gets a little late?
A.M.F.A.L should not have any such restrictions and obligations.

The challenges

Design the stickers in a way that they are prominent and readable from a distance.
Stickers should have a design recall.
Should it be stickers at all? What if someone does not want to or is unable to offer lift one day?
Should it be danglers? Where to hang them on the car and still make them prominently visible?
Spread the word about the portal.
Build and maintain the portal

The bigger challenges

There are bigger concerns in terms of security.

What if the sticker is being used by someone with not-so-good intentions?
What if the people asking for a lift have some nasty thoughts?
Can these unwanted incidents be avoided altogether?
Can this public interest portal be safeguarded from such incidents, if any?

Suggenstions? Comments? Thoughs? Feedback? Critique? Willing to help?… Please drop a note below.

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Published:: 12.1.09 / 10pm

Category:: Environment, Idea

Tags:: ask-me-for-a-lift, car pooling, go green, Idea, initiative, public service

About

I have over 6 years of experience in architecting and developing web applications.

I am currently working at Akamai Technologies as a Sr. Software Engineer responsible for gathering/conceptualizing requirements and architecting the “Media Analytics” product, which is part of the Akamai HD Network. Previously at Akamai, I was working in the portal development team for the “Performance Analytics” suite of products, responsible for feature development and usability enhancements. At Akamai, I have gained an in-depth understanding of the business of online “Analytics”, and building & using large-scale software for it.

Prior to this, I worked as a Technical Architect at Info Edge (I) Ltd (company that owns high traffic portals like: Naukri.com, Jeevansaathi.com, Brijj.com, 99acres.com etc.). I was the first member of the Brijj.com technical team and was responsible for hiring and bootstrapping the complete team; and architecting the product. For Naukri.com, I played a key role in implementing and optimizing Lucene based distributed and scalable Resume Search Engine in Core Java. I was also responsible for performance tweaking (Apache & Lighttpd for high performance and low response time), and taking initiatives to deliver smart, fast and quality products for the company.

Apart from these, I have also undergone six months of extensive training experience at Tata Consultancy Services, responsible for re-writing existing Pro*COBOL code in equivalent PL/SQL scripts.

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Vishal Raj 12.4.09 / 11am

Everything seems to be fine except for the concern for security from both the sides. And also the gender bais would popup. As in, no lady would agree to this idea. So this would be limited to males only. And it would be foolish to assume that female help seekers may not have some nasty thoughts in their land which may land the good intention helper in some unpredictable, deep mess.
Overall, not a good idea. Let it go the way it is going.

Kapil 12.9.09 / 5pm

Got the following email from Directorate of Urban Land Transport, Govt. of Karnataka.

———————————-
Dear Kapil,

Thank you for sharing your ideas on the carpooling intiative. Directorate of Urban Land Trasnsport is working on the models to introduce this facility in Bangalore. This would be finalised after getting the opinion / suggestions from the public.

Thanks & Regards

–
Directorate of Urban Land Transport,
Urban Development Department,
Govt. of Karnataka
Ph: 080-22373780
FAX: 080-22373781
http://www.urbantransport.kar.gov.in

Dams 2.11.10 / 11am

Good interesting post Kapil.
It would be a good step forward for a green environment, if a solution for the challenges are found.
Nice blog.

sujith 2.16.10 / 2pm

Good idea This has to be a movement of sorts. Another challenge that is already there in the car pool concept is “trust”. How do we know the person offering the lift is a genuine one, or worse, the person asking for a lift does not have a malicious intent. The solution is, only those candidates will be provided the sticker who have got his/her background check done. There are agencies happily providing this service.

Kapil 2.16.10 / 2pm

Thanks
I like the background-check concept. I did not think of it before.

Khushboo 2.16.10 / 11pm

I agree with Sujith. Also I think, if you are thinking of it as an initiative that you would like to spend time building, there could be ways of letting that trust grow, and keep it in check also. For instance, you could have levels of “helpers”… meaning the level to which they can be trusted. Begin with men giving lifts to men (safest). Then once they have done that for say 3months, without any complaints (maybe u can set standards..), they can be promoted to “trust level2″, meaning this person can now be trusted enough to give lifts to women… etc etc.
This way the person taking the lift, is aware of his/her risk, n is responsible 4 thr own decision…
All this depends on how much time n efforts you are willing to put in, to make this work.

Pradeep Gupta 4.7.10 / 11am

Kapil, This is a very good idea, provided that the challenges have to be solved and the solution should be genuine.
I agree with Sujith & Khushboo for idea of background check. But also, there is a risk. Background check can be done only from one side i.e. the person who is providing the lift. What about the the person who is taking the lift? That also we need to secure as this idea should also include the woman who is ready to provide the lift to man. Please add more ideas to solve it. One thing, apart from the sticker the person should also have the register to include the record of the persons taking the lift from him.

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Ask Me For A Lift! A public public service initiative idea

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