the same way that someone can go to Ebay and sell items on Ebay, a ride provider can go to RideScout, upload their services at their prices and at their schedule. We’re just the marketplace. That’s big and exciting change.
From a tech standpoint, the challenge was we had to find a way to standardize four or five different experiences. Transit is not the same across the country: car share, large car rental companies, they also have their own styles. At the end of the day, we want someone who is looking for a car for the day to very quickly compare apples to apples. Is my best option Cartogo or Zipcar or a more traditional rental car company?
It was a software challenge but also a people challenge, too. The ones with older business models, those companies that in the first 100 years of their existence didn’t have to operate in a marketplace like this. We’re changing not just technology, but changing mindsets and changing behavior.
X: How do you change the mindsets of legacy providers?
JK: Their product will be served up in our app in a way they want it to be shown: their logos, their pictures, and their text. Technology now creates competition in the marketplace, like there wasn’t before. They’re smart companies.
X: RideScout is running into some of the same controversy at city governments between legacy operators and new services like Uber or Lyft. What is this like?
JK: We’re not running into it: we’re proud to be in the middle of it. We’re
