The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Internet

By Erik Schmitt

There is a transportation revolution going on!

People have always wanted to get to where they need to go for when they need to get there. Whether it has been horse drawn carriage, birch bark canoe, donkey or elephantine vehicles of steel chugging across land or sea, history has shown that humans are relentless at being able to catch a lift for themselves and their goods to destinations both of need and discovery. Flash forward to the early 21st century. Unfortunately, we don’t have the luxury of teleportation, but while the folks in the back room are working on that, people are increasingly looking for new travel options.

Combine the omnipresent automobile with our current context of an economy in recoil and the green zeitgeist; now mix in the powers of the ever incredible Internet, and POOF! Just like that, people are able to connect with others and share their vehicles. By doing this, people are able to move around as they want to without being burdened by things they don’t want. Those things being namely time inflexibility, expense, and burden on their eco-consciences. Nevertheless, progress always comes with a few bumps in the road.

One of the more popular websites used to match rides and destinations is PickUpPal.com. One of the founders, Eric Dewhirst, describes it as a venue where like- minded people can group together, connect to share transportation costs and reduce their carbon footprint. PickUpPal currently operates in 104 countries and has hundreds of thousands of users offering and looking for rides.

It works, very well. As someone who drives north of Toronto daily with a newfound carpool friend, who I found on the site, I can testify. Within a week, I found Murphy who was looking for a ride and was on my way. When I signed into the site, I was greeted with a Google Map overlay which confirmed that picking Murphy up and dropping him off would be the same as getting a morning coffee coupled with the added benefits of cost savings, ability to use the HOV (high occupancy vehicle lanes), and the satisfaction in knowing that I was doing more with less (I drive a compact car). Personally, I found it much more effective than using Craigslist, Kijiji or the Facebook application Carpool by Zimride. The problem is that PickUpPal.com is currently not able to operate as freely in Keep it Beautiful Ontario, as it does the world over.

In the fall of 2008, PickUpPal was taken to court by Trentway-Wagar, a large bus line operator based in Peterborough. PickUpPal.com was found to be operating an unlicensed transport business in violation of the Public Vehicles Act and was forced to pay $11,000 in fines to the province. At the time, PickUpPal’s business model was such that a small commission was charged to the driver of the vehicle in accordance to a generously estimated cost of driving that considered gas, maintenance and insurance. The site has since dropped this model in favour of generating advertising revenues as it has a large attractive user base. Additionally, it has posted on the site that users in Ontario must use the site in accordance to the definition of carpooling as described in the Ontario Public Vehicles Act.

The frustratingly strict rules are these:

* You must travel from home to work only – (No pit stops!)
* You cannot cross municipal boundaries – (Sorry if you and your rideshare live in Toronto and work in York Region)
* You must ride with the same driver each day – (Too bad if your regular ride is unavailable and you have to use your backup)
* You must pay the driver no more frequently than weekly – (No trickling twoonies for that daily double double)

Interestingly, in talking to Trentway-Wagar, it was apparent that that they had much more in common with their Internet entrepreneur adversaries. Besides arguing that buses are actually the most fuel efficient and space saving means of transportation, it was interesting to hear their dissatisfaction with Provincial regulations. Trentway-Wagar has been running a service to Buffalo, New York for the past 49 years, and has spent $65,000 in legal fees to date to protect its route from its US competition. Other issues that Trentway-Wagar has with these policies are that they are unreasonable and impossible to enforce as is illustrated by the above definition of carpooling. To be fair to Trentway-Wagar and its zeal in challenging those that contradict the Public Vehicles Act, one should also note the difference between carpooling and people running unregistered, un-insured courier or transportation services on the Toronto-Montreal corridor. These activities are extremely popular on Craigslist due to the more commercial online culture than that created by the users of PickUpPal.

This case has promoted a call to change. Currently in its second reading in the Ontario Legislature, Bill 118 will ban the use of cell phones while driving by amending the Highway Traffic Act as well as repeal the definition of a car pool vehicle as stated in the Public Vehicles Act. The later amendment is being done in order to make the rules more flexible and promote the benefits of the carpooling. To both PickUpPal and Trentway-Wagar, this is nothing more than a band-aid solution because the entire Act needs to be addressed. This is another example of how Internet networking changes the rules of social interaction. People will continue to use the Internet to connect and organize in ways that previously were only available to organizations with large resources. Out of touch and out of date laws that do not take this new perspective into account will do nothing to promote the benefits or hinder the threats that such social organizing can bring. The only thing that is for sure is that the answer to this version of a hitchhiker’s guide is definitely not forty-two.

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