Shared rides are now the new rage in the transportation industry with more companies entering the market to get their slice of its growing success. One of the first services that offered the carpooling practice was Hitch, a startup which was eventually followed by Lyft Line, UberPool and Sidecar Shared Rides. Now, Hitch is joining Lyft in order to enhance the company's own shared ride services.
While the financial terms of the deal were undisclosed, it is safe to say that it would result in the shutting down of Hitch and that its founders will be bringing over to Lyft what they had built at Hitch.
"We're very early on in terms of where the product can be in a few years," said Chris Lambert, chief technology officer at Lyft. "The Hitch team will definitely help us expand to more markets."
Lambert is one of those who were impressed with Hitch and its technology. One such technology is built on the idea of learning more about the person that one is carpooling with and finding out shared interests or common friends.
Hitch uses this concept in carpooling. The person looks for a ride and tells the app about his destination and the number of passengers that are taking the same ride. If another person's ride request would indicate that he is going in the same direction, the app will create the best route possible for the convenience of both passengers.
Carpooling enables the passenger to enjoy a ride discount of up to 60 percent, that is, if he doesn't mind sharing the ride with strangers.
Quite amusingly, both Sidecar and Uber have launched similar carpooling services on the same day. Both have their own discount schemes that are offered to passengers who are sharing the ride with strangers after confirming that they are going in the same direction.
Prior to acquiring Hitch, Lyft had also acquired Cherry, an on-demand car-washing app, and Rover, a transit company.
Hitch, an app owned by Corral Labs, is founded by Noam Szpiro and Snir Koesh. They are both joining Lyft after they shut down Hitch's service. Lyft said that it is hosting a kickoff event as a way to make the transition as smooth as it can be for Hitch drivers.
Most ride-sharing apps now offer a carpool option for passengers. However, California state regulators may soon conduct a crackdown on the carpool services. Last week, the Public Utilities Commission sent letters to each of the popular carpooling services and said that the practice of carpooling is a violation of the state law.
