The Founder of ZipCar Moves Into Ride Sharing

"Urban Omnibus: So, as you have moved from Zipcar to GoLoco, from car sharing to ride sharing, do you see ride sharing as more of a national set of strategies?

Chase: Yes, car sharing only works in dense metropolitan areas or in cases where people don't need a car to get to work. If you need a car to get to work, you're going to have to own your own car. The cost of car sharing is too high for a daily commute. But, then again, according to the National Households Consumer Survey, across the nation it costs $24 per day on average that people are spending in America on their car, day in and day out. If I were to tell you that it was going to cost $125 a week to go to work, you would say, no way, I'm not going to do it. But we are doing it - we just don't realize we're doing it.

That's why I did GoLoco - I said, what about all those other people who are feeling similar transportation and mobility pains but they need a car to get to work? Ride sharing is for those people.

Urban Omnibus: Can you give us ride sharing 101? How can GoLoco change how we get around?

Chase: The big idea for ride sharing and for GoLoco is to think of your car, your expenses, your friends, and your trips as part of your own personal public transportation system. Your friends and their cars and their trips are ways that you can get around. It builds on the idea of long tail media and long tail economics. Ride sharing is the long tail of public transportation."