The startup economy always has a niche waiting to be filled by a creative person, and that person is often looking for answer to what begins as a personal problem. AirBnB was started when two kids who couldn’t pay their rent saw that there was money to be made by renting a mattress in their apartment. And while Uber and Lyft changed the way we hail a ride from waving our arms to using a smartphone, there’s still plenty of room for creativity in the ride sharing business.
Sara Schaer founded Kango, a San Francisco Bay Area ride sharing service, tailor-made to cart kids from school to music lessons, from home to daycare. The drivers are trained childcare providers, their background checks are fearsome and include fingerprinting and in-person interviews. The cars can be equipped with car seats. Parents can track the car’s progress on their apps. Sara calls Kango an Uber for Kids and her drivers “nannies on wheels”. Parents can request a specific driver and meet them in person first. Many choose to use the same driver on a regularly scheduled basis. They can contact other parents using the app to arrange things like playdates or rides to field trips. Prices are slightly higher than a traditional ride-sharing service, but “our insurance rates are higher, too,” says Schaer.
This fall, Kango will team up with Chrysler in an unusual trial program. Parents will now get to know their kids are getting a top-notch car along with the driver. Chrysler will provide leased Pacifica Hybrid minivans to eligible Kango drivers at a preferred rate. The Pacifica is the first electrified minivan to market and claims 84 miles per gallon in electric-only mode. Plus, it’s got state of the art entertainment features (like dual 10-inch touch screens with games and apps) and top of the line safety features.
Kango has Bay Area competitors HopSkipDrive and Zum. Zum puts a bit more emphasis on using the drivers as babysitters as well as drivers. HopSkipDrive offers a pretty neat carpooling arrangement, offers services to seniors, and has ventured out to LA as well as SF. All three of these companies were started by moms who had to solve their own transportation problems and knew what they wanted.
Outside of the Bay Area, kiddie-ride services take on local flavor. In Dallas, Bubbl offers rides where the drivers are all off-duty or retired policemen. And in NYC the operative word is newborns. Kid Car will pick you and your newborn up at the hospital with a fleet of different types of vehicles to choose from.
Seniors, another demographic with special ride needs, have options too. SilverRide, founded by a CEO who saw a niche based on his own personal experience with needing rides for family members, offers door-to-door escort, assistance for special physical problems, rides to medical appointments and a companion service for outings. With his grandmother in mind, Justin Boogaard developed another alternative, GoGo Grandparent, a service that connects seniors to ridesharing services like Uber and Lyft without requiring the use of a smartphone. Other companies like Liberty saw a gap in the servicing of ridesharing in rural areas and is working in states including Nebraska.
For college students who’ve had too good a time, Stephen F. Austin University in East Texas runs a service called Driving Jacks. Volunteer drivers pick up students on weekends when they've had too much to drink. EcoRides was created for those who care about zero emissions riding. It’s available in Canada, LA and SF, and you’ll soon be able to order a Tesla S3 driver. Finally, ridesharing services like Safr, a Boston based company, are created by women for women.
Necessity being the mother of invention, I’m expecting to see other unmet niches filled. Let’s see: pet pick up services, ride services offering manicures (not available in cities with potholes) or blowouts and in-car dining, just for starters. What’s your dream rideshare?