System for facilitating ride-sharing transactions between travelers willing to directly share expenses

Abstract

A method is disclosed that matches travelers for ride sharing according to personal preferences, such as smoking, music, allergies, drive sharing, expense sharing, number of riders, and gender, as well as basic trip details. In preferred embodiments the method is accessed via a website, and trips can be over any distance and/or by any land, air, or water vehicle. Embodiments require traveler verification by a payment and/or other means, and/or require travelers to supply identifying information. Matches can take into account ratings of travelers by other travelers. Confirmations, reminders, and ride sharing advice can be sent to riders before scheduled rides, and information about a shared ride can be sent to a non-rider. Fees can be charged, and credited if no match is accepted. Communications can be secure and requesting and/or accepting matches can be logged. Origin and/or destination radii can be automatically enlarged to provide more matches. Expenses are directly shared.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A system for facilitating ride-sharing transactions between a first plurality of travelers and a second plurality of travelers, the system comprising:
 a database for storing in trip information and personal preference information received from each of the first plurality of travelers, each of the first plurality of travelers offering a ride on a trip he or she is planning to take using a vehicle he or she is providing in exchange for an agreement to directly share the expenses of the trip, the received trip and personal preference information being uniquely associated with the planned trip for which the ride is being offered, the personal preference information for each offered ride including terms specified by each of the first plurality of travelers to govern how the expenses will be shared directly between travelers sharing that ride, the received trip information for each offered ride specifying a point of origin and a point of destination for the planned trip and information regarding the vehicle to be provided;   a database for storing trip information and personal preference information received from each of the second plurality of travelers, each of the second plurality of travelers requesting to share a ride for a desired trip in exchange for accepting the terms specifying the manner in which the expenses for the trip will be shared, the received trip and personal preference information uniquely associated with the desired trip for which the ride is being requested, the received trip information for each requested ride specifying a desired point of origin and a desired point of destination;   a server, coupled to the databases for storing trip information and personal preference information of the first and second plurality of travelers, the server for identifying ride-sharing matches between the rides offered by the first plurality of travelers and the rides requested by the second plurality of travelers using the stored trip and personal preference information, said identifying comprising:
 comparing the stored trip information and the personal preference information associated with each of the offered rides with the stored trip information and personal preference information associated with each of the requested rides; and 
 determining the ride-sharing matches based on reaching a predetermined threshold of matching criteria, the matching criteria including a threshold of proximity between the point of origin of an offered ride and the point of desired origin of a requested ride, a threshold of proximity between the point of destination of an offered ride and the point of desired destination of a requested ride, and a match between at least one personal preference specified by the personal preference information for the offered ride and the requested ride; 
   notifying each one of the second plurality of travelers of any identified ride-sharing matches for the ride he or she has requested, said notifying further comprising providing the trip information and personal preference information associated with the offered ride of each of the identified ride-sharing matches; and   receiving acceptances from the second plurality of travelers of the offered rides, including the terms specifying how expenses will be shared, of one of their notified ride-sharing matches, and for each of the received acceptances: informing the one of the first plurality of travelers that their offered ride, as well as the terms associated with the accepted ride-sharing match has been accepted.