Climate change is one of the defining problems of our generation. Under business as usual scenarios, temperatures could increase as much as 11°F by the end of the 21st century, with increased droughts, heat waves, rainfall, tropical cyclones, and extreme high tides.[1] Transportation accounts for 23% of the global CO₂emissions, and it is trending in the wrong direction with close to 2% growth year-over-year.[2] Proposed solutions to reverse this trend mostly require massive capital investments that are difficult to muster during difficult economic times.
Despite this bad news, there is an inexpensive opportunity to better leverage existing transportation assets using mobile apps. Existing transportation options form a complex network including public transportation, shuttles, vanpools, taxis, jitneys, bicycles, carpools, loaner cars, and personal cars. As with any network, the greater its size the more utility it offers its users, but only if there is easy access to navigation. The lack of navigation information has been the missing piece that has held back growth of alternative paths in the network.
Closing the information gap and providing easy access to optimally navigate the transportation network will unleash latent demand for alternative transportation. Just as looking up an article in the encyclopedia or listing an item for sale have been revolutionized by the internet, finding the right vehicles and groups of people to ride with to your destination can be revolutionized by mobile devices, GPS, and web services.
Early signs of change are already under way. Zipcar demonstrated that Internet reservations and electronic unlocking technology can enable an hourly car sharing market to the tune of an $800 million market cap. The success of Zipcar and AirBnB has inspired peer-to-peer car sharing start-ups that match carless drivers with car owners not driving at the time. Meanwhile companies like Zimride are leveraging social media technology to grow long-haul ride sharing.
These early signs are encouraging and they point to an even larger opportunity. While there are many companies making segments of shared transportation more efficient, there is not yet a service that provides efficient access to the entire network. The ability to match demand with supply across transportation segments will truly unlock the ability for users to learn and try efficient combinations of services they would never have discovered on their own. When even first-timers can easily and optimally navigate services they never tried before, the potential of the large, multi-modal transportation networks will come alive.
Given the environmental need for more efficient transportation, there is no time to wait. I am committed to developing this vision for Network Commuting.
Please share your thoughts and ideas about the Network Commuting concept.
