After numerous failed attempts to fill his car with passengers by advertising his empty seats online, whilst planning a trip from Melbourne to the Blue mountains earlier this year, entrepreneur Seb Linder had a “eureka moment” and realized there was a need for a safe platform to connect drivers and passengers on the road.
Consequently, this September, Linder is planning to roll out his brand new ride-sharing app and platform, Buckle Up, with a goal to ease congestion, while connecting like-minded travelers and festival-goers on the road.
To start, Buckle Up is aiming its service at people who travel often to music festivals and sporting events outside major cities. Then, once the app gains momentum, Buckle Up should be able to expand throughout Australia to connect those traveling interstate.
Buckle Up plans to implement a strict verification process, and security measures:
- Each rider and driver must sign up via Facebook.
- All users must upload contact details that will be verified with a photo submission
- driver’s license
- vehicle registration number
Linder said that in the early stages of the app, each user will be manually verified and approved by the Buckle Up team so that they can keep an eye on each driver or passenger and flag anything of concern.
And as an extra precaution, Buckle Up intends to provide insurance for both parties involved for any liability, just in case there is damage to the car, or should there be a crash or an emergency.
The app will also enable messaging between the driver and the passenger(s) before they request a ride; this feature is similar to that which Airbnb has in place, in order to get further information about a property or host.
As for cost, the driver can nominate how much he or she will charge for a seat, a point of difference from other ride-sharing platforms such as Uber, and the like.
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