The Daily Commute

The Daily Commute is a dynamic Carpool solution based on Google Maps. It can be reached at The Daily Commute.

This car-pool-scheme seems to be unused and not functioning anymore? --Yeahvle 13:46, 28 November 2010 (UTC)

The Daily Commute Philosophy[edit | edit source]

The Daily Commute, is a commuting solution for the twenty first century that turns private cars on the roads, into an alternate public transport system.

The Daily Commute is new breed of dynamic carpooling solutions that differ from existing carpooling solutions by offering

• Increased ease of use.
• More sophisticated security features.
• Instant communication through two-way SMS system, allowing users to sending each other text messages anonymously.

Who Should Join?

All those interested in carpooling and not interested in carpooling. For the non-believers, the site provides a bit of diversion.

The Daily Commute Limitations[edit | edit source]

The Daily Commute is a new site and has a low user base. It will become more useful as the user base grows. We encourage you to join and register your Commute and invite other users to join.

In the meantime, The Daily Commute can be seen as a place where people can go to register their ideal Daily Commute.

There are many reasons why carpooling schemes do not work. One big reason is that people buy and own a car because they want the convenience, they know that the car is parked near their home, they can go to it anytime they like for driving to work or to shop anytime they like. And to just load in their bag or stuff they will transport all the way home to the door and to play their own music as loud as they want.

Another big reason is that many people are uncomfortable or suspicious about other individuals that they consider strangers. In many nations people would not sit next to another person on a bus or train unless it is really crowded. At least in northern europe this is normal. Often it is one empty seat between travellers on collective transports. People never speak or seek contact with strangers, unless the train is cancelled or late, then the travellers standing stranded at the platform of the station can find "a common enemy" in the train company to comment angrily about "together".

Carpools are of course a great idea if a business enterprise could persuade people to go 3-4 persons per car instead of 1 person in each car. But unless the business model is very profitable and gives plenty of incentives for the users it will not work long-term for the broader masses. Lets bounce around ideas on how to pay the driver/passengers? Free tollfees by using sponsors? Discounts on fuel? --Yeahvle 13:51, 28 November 2010 (UTC)

Registration[edit | edit source]

Users register with

• their name,
• email,
• year of birth,
• their car license plate (if they are a driver)

Optional are:

• mobile phone
• photos.

Creating Commutes[edit | edit source]

Once registered, a user can create a commute. This involves entering

• Driver/Passenger/Either preference.
• A departure address.
• A destination address.
• A schedule.
• Any specific requirements they might have.

Three types of schedules are offered

• Monday-Friday.
• Single Date Schedule. Allows users to define a set of specific dates of travel.
• Regular Schedule. Allows users to choose specific days of the week on which to travel.

All schedules require times of travel.

Users can create multiple commutes.

Users can change or delete commutes.

My Commute Details[edit | edit source]

Contains details of a users commute. It looks similar to match detail, but has the following additional features

• Carbon calculator- calculates the carbon footprint of a journey in kilograms of carbon dioxide.
• Fare Calculator- Works out the cost of the journey. Can be used by drivers to recoup costs. Calculation includes tolls, parking and fuel costs.
• Carparks - Shows a list of parking around a destination. This will be a user contributed feature.

Managing Matches[edit | edit source]

The Daily Commute returns relevant matches, if they exist. Returning Matches will

• Have departure and destination address that don't deviate more than 20% of the total Journey Distance. For example, if a User1 has 20 km commute then all her matches will start within a 2km radius of her departure point and end in a 2 km radius of her destination point.
• Schedules will be matched to within half an hour.

The Daily Commute is designed to allow its users to manage large number of matches easily by allowing users to put matches in the following categories.

• My Commute Associates- These are people a user is carpooling with.
• Discard Matches- These are matches that are not appropriate.
• Removed Commute Associates- These are people a user is no longer commuting with.

Users can move matches between categories. For example, a discard match may be re-categorized as My Commute Associate.

Match Detail[edit | edit source]

Match detail contains information about a user. No personally identifying information (like name or email address) is displayed.

Information displayed includes:

• Age Group (not exact age).
• Screen name
• Gender.
• Users personal preferences.
• Photos (if available).
• Schedule
• User Rating (see Security section).
• Feedback on the user (see Security section).

Communication[edit | edit source]

Users communicate through The Daily Commute Message Centre. The Message Centre also allows users to send SMS to other users not online.

The Daily Commute SMS System[edit | edit source]

Allows users to

• Send mobile phone text messages to other users who may not be online.
• Purchase SMS.

The Daily Commute Security[edit | edit source]

The Daily Commute is very conscious about user security and offers the following security orientated features.

• Message Centre- Communicate anonymously with prospective commuters.
• Feedback- feedback can be provided on all users which are fully vetted before begin published.
• Block User Option- users can block other users instantly.
• Provides gender information. Women for example might choose to commute exclusively with other women.
• Communicate anonymously with prospective commuters with SMS. We have the mobile phone numbers of such users.

The Daily Commute Invitation[edit | edit source]

Users can invite other users. The site keeps track of invited users. The site controls the number of invitations a person may send also maintins full lineage of who invites who.

The Daily Commute for Corporates[edit | edit source]

Allows Corporates and Government Bodies to join. These provide a list of their email domains. When a user joins with email domains associated with a register company or government body, she is designated as a corporate user.

Corporates have the ability to use The Daily Commute as an internal carpool system.

Corporates can have a blacklist that bans commuting with specific companies or types of users. For example, a company may decide that they will exclude all non-corporate users and specific competitor companies.

Corporates can maintain a list of whitelist containing companies and individuals who they will commute to the exclusion of everybody else.

Corporates are charged to join.

The Daily Commute Corporate User[edit | edit source]

The "Corporate User" designation, visible in the match detail, advertises the user as an employee of a reputable body who has joined with a work email address. Such users are more easily trackable.

In the worst-case scenario, if such a user went rogue, they could be easily tracked through their employee.

The Daily Commute Help[edit | edit source]

The Daily Commute help files, under construction now will be delivered as flash tutorials.

The Daily Commute Contact[edit | edit source]

The Daily Commute may be contacted at amitpathikthedailycommutecomau