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Comment by throw0101c | Hacker News Reader

Alternatively, a bunch of friends could buy a car together and split the costs.

I could see a scenario where instead of (or in addition to) vehicles being pooled between "x" random people (taxis, Uber/Lyft, ZipCar), you could purchase a fractional share of a car (Cf. NetJets): you get semi-exclusive use of (particular?) vehicles.

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In talking about friends with this, one interesting divide was between people with kids and those without.

People with kids, especially suburban ones, seem to use the vehicle as a sort of mobile operating base. So the car isn't just a taxi. It's where the kids' sports stuff goes. Plus the folding chairs for the games. Plus snacks and water on hand. Plus it gets used as a storage locker when they're out somewhere. And it has assorted useful stuff, like charging cables and wet wipes and sunglasses and spare napkins and and and...

So I expect fractional ownership will not be particularly popular for a lot of people because a) they're already used to owning a vehicle, and b) they don't want to have to take everything out of the car all the time.

I considered this in college, but gave up on the idea eventually. Figuring out how to fairly split the cost of gas, tires, and maintenance isn't easy, and when you're a broke college kid, splitting the tab fairly is a big deal.

I'm sure there several companies would pop-up for a "X as a Service": you connect your own car to their API, and things like scheduling, mileage, depreciation, etc, would be computing for you. The company could also offer to sell/lease you a vehicle (NetJets-style).

I think Uber/Lyft is that company, they just use human drivers, which has apparently made traffic worse now, and I wouldn't expect it to get better.

The reason Uber/Lyft/Taxis in general make traffic worse is because taxis have to travel X miles between dropping off a passenger to picking up another passenger. It's the form of transportation that makes the least efficient use of limited roadways.

They do reduce parking requirements, though.

What's the point? Regular cars are cheap. They're not expensive capital assets that last for decades like private jets.

> when you're a broke college kid, splitting the tab fairly is a big deal.

And when you're not?

And couldn't the car assist in the calculation?

I wonder if it became more of a thing, companies would help to solve the coordination problem on this.

I think companies would need to build the solution before this will become more of a thing.

A lot of the reasons people don't do this now still apply, including a lot of trips taking place at roughly 8:00 and 5:00.

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