who already plan to drive to the same destinations.
This type of idea has been tried before, Vaxman says, by Zimride—Lyft’s original service, which it sold in 2013 to car rental company Enterprise. Though Lyft changed gears to focus on an app that finds nearby drivers for short trips, Vaxman sees potential for the prior concept. “When they started, the sharing economy wasn’t as strong in the US as it is now,” she says. “People weren’t used to the idea. I don’t think that four years ago, we would be able to do what we’re doing.”
The sharing economy and car services, however, have run into regulatory troubles over licensing, fees, and other legal issues. New York, for example, has been a legal battleground for some would-be rivals to the local taxi industry and certain taxi hailing apps.
In response, Uber changed its plans for this city, offering only black car and other select services. Some other rivals simply do not operate in New York at all. Meanwhile New York startup Bandwagon does offer its taxi fare sharing app in the city, by working within the local taxi commission’s guidelines.
Uber and Lyft face a different fight in Boston, where the city council debated whether to require their drivers to pay the same fees as taxi drivers and follow the same regulations.
Vaxman does not believe Tripda, which she says is not trying to be a taxi service, will run into regulatory issues—but her company has only just started offering service in the US. “Time will tell,” she says. “We’re not providing for-hire or transportation services.”
She would like to see Tripda become as ubiquitous for sharing road trips as using Google Maps to find bus or rail routes. To further grow the company, Vaxman says a funding round may be in the offing for Tripda in 2015. “The fact that BlaBlaCar out of Europe raised $100 million is very helpful to me right now,” she says.
