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What is the incentive for the driver? >
How is HOVER different from ride-matching services that use the internet to find carpool partners? >
How do you know HOVER will work? >
How will Trip Convergence make money from this? >
The morning part of the system looks easy. It is the evening end that looks difficult. How sure are you that the evening end will work? >
How will you pay for the HOVER facilities? >
What is the minimum distance for a commute that HOVER will work for? >
What if we want to incentivise people to do more carpooling? How would the HOVER system help us? >
You say you want 100 parking spaces for each destination. What is the logic behind that? >
If HOVER is such a good idea, why has no-one done it before? >
You have a patent over the system. How can you get a patent over a system as simple as this? >
What happens if we just use the ideas ourselves without licensing it from you? >
What if we have a route that HOVER would work on. How do we get the HOVER system? >
You say HOVER is less expensive than new roads or new public transport. How did you calculate this? >
Won’t HOVER just scavenge people from the bus system? >
Won’t HOVER only work where there are HOV lanes or other benefits for HOV’s? >
Why shouldn’t we just wait a while and let casual carpooling get going, rather than investing in HOVER facilities? >
We don’t see any demand for more carpooling. How can you be sure people will use the system? >
How much will users have to pay to belong to HOVER, and to use the service? >
Does the system have to be called HOVER if we implement it in our city? >
What is the incentive for the driver?
The driver will receive HOVER Ride Credits, and also qualify to use any HOV facility benefits such as HOV lane, or HOV bypass at the ramp meter. There might also be preferential HOV parking at some destinations. Top>
How is HOVER different from ride-matching services that use the internet to find carpool partners?
Traditional carpooling has three barriers: the effort to organise it, the inflexibility of matching schedules, and the worry of whether its being kept fair between the participants. HOVER solves all three of these barriers. The ride-matching software, as far as we know, just makes it a little bit easier to find a carpool partner. It doesn’t do anything to help remove the barriers.
That’s not to say that ride-matching software isn’t a good idea, just that it is a very different solution when compared with HOVER.
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How do you know HOVER will work?
We are confident that HOVER will work because we have seen people doing ‘casual carpooling’, and the behaviours are very similar. The difference is that casual carpooling relies totally on the non-cash benefits, and has no member screening process. We believe HOVER is more attractive than casual carpooling because of this. Top>
How will Trip Convergence make money from this?
We will charge a small service fee each time a member uses the system. This will be paid out of the member’s financial account. Also there is a license fee each time a new city signs up, that we base on the population that will have access to the system. Top>
The morning part of the system looks easy. It is the evening end that looks difficult. How sure are you that the evening end will work?
With any new system there are questions that need to be answered. We think that the HOVER Point and HOVER Port system will work, and we expect this to be proven when we do our beta sites. But we will also learn if it doesn’t work well, and will change it based on feedback from the participants. The main thing is that the benefit is so large (to everyone) that we really must work out how to make this work. Top>
How will you pay for the HOVER facilities?
The HOVER facilities should be funded the same way as the roads and public transport, because they increase the ‘people carrying capacity’ of the transport network. Top>
What is the minimum distance for a commute that HOVER will work for?
Our planning has been done on the basis of 10 km (6 miles) each way. Top>
What if we want to incentivise people to do more carpooling? How would the HOVER system help us?
Because we have a detailed record of each member’s use of the system, and because we have a financial relationship with each member, we can pay the incentive to the members on your behalf. Top>
You say you want 100 parking spaces for each destination. What is the logic behind that?
We are looking for critical mass. We’ve based our calculations on one member arriving at our HOVER Park every minute and a fuller car leaving every three minutes. If you think about this for a 2.5 hour morning peak, that will be 150 members arriving, and 50 fuller cars departing, so we would need 100 parking spaces.
In use this might prove to be more than is needed. It is something we will learn from experience.
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If HOVER is such a good idea, why has no-one done it before?
The main reason is probably that we have better technology these days to make the whole process simple and efficient to use. The internet enables a market between participants that would not have been easy to establish before. And also, sometimes even simple ideas have not been invented before. Top>
You have a patent over the system. How can you get a patent over a system as simple as this?
Patent law rewards invention and innovation. What we have invented is something completely new. Ask anyone, it’s not been done before. By getting a patent we can protect our idea, and we have an incentive to maximise its use. Top>
What happens if we just use the ideas ourselves without licensing it from you?
Our lawyers will end up talking to your lawyers, and the only people who will get rich will be the lawyers. We think we will do such a good job for you that you would rather not try to infringe our patent. Top>
What if we have a route that HOVER would work on. How do we get the HOVER system?
Contact us and we’ll work through the details. It will probably be slightly different in each country or state.
We expect to work together with you to:
• establish a local operating company
• sign license agreements governing the use of the business processes and the intellectual property
• secure HOVER Park facilities
• buy the technology to make it work
• agree the operating specifications and fees
• engage local staff
• train the staff
• carry out a publicity campaign
• record sign-ups on our website
• take applications on our website
• prepare for the big launch
• operate, sharing best practice from around the world
The local operating company could be owned by you, by us, or by a joint venture. This is all subject to discussion depending on what works best for you.
And we would recommend a pilot project as a first step, probably using existing parking that is unused during the day such as a stadium or fairground. Top>
You say HOVER is less expensive than new roads or new public transport. How did you calculate this?
We used the Auckland New Zealand long term transport strategy documents and compared the costs of incremental capacity for each different approach. The most expensive is rail, followed by new roads, followed by new buses. The least expensive is ridesharing where no facilities are required. HOVER is less expensive per unit of capacity than buses, but more expensive than ridesharing where no facilities are required.
We’ve worked out the payback period for a ‘Bus Park and Ride’ and it’s about 20 years on a ‘whole community’ basis (the costs and savings to the whole community). We worked out the payback period for a HOVER Park on the same basis, and it’s under 2 years. That’s mainly because there is no need to buy the bus, nor pay the driver or other operating costs of the bus.
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Won’t HOVER just scavenge people from the bus system?
The main challenge every transport system faces is the growing number of passengers. As passenger numbers grow, HOVER is a good way to absorb the increase without adding new bus capacity. The most expensive bus is the one that only operates at the peak, and then has nothing to do for the rest of the day.
Of course, if your region has buses that are not being fully utilised during the peak you might be worried that HOVER will absorb growth that should be carried on the buses.
All the HOVER marketing will be targeted at Single Occupant Vehicle drivers: they are the ones who both cause, and bear most of the cost of, congestion.
We are in talks with some bus companies about collaboration. This is more meaningful to those who see themselves firstly as movers of people and secondly as operators of buses.
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Won’t HOVER only work where there are HOV lanes or other benefits for HOV’s?
When we modeled the costs and benefits of HOVER we calculated that the financial benefit for a full time user would be over $2,000 per year, tax paid money. That’s like getting about a $3,000 raise in your pay. We believe that this is enough to get a segment of the population to use the system.
However, having a time saving benefit as well will inevitably make HOVER more popular.
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Why shouldn’t we just wait a while and let casual carpooling get going, rather than investing in HOVER facilities?
Casual systems don’t get going very easily, as evidenced by the fact that they only operate with any size in just three US cities. HOVER is a low cost way of getting the benefits of such a system without waiting in the hope that someone will establish it. Top>
We don’t see any demand for more carpooling. How can you be sure people will use the system?
We will not be looking to people who already carpool as the main market for HOVER. HOVER is a new system, almost a new mode of transport. We have to develop the market for a new system. This will take time. We are confident that it will work because of the casual examples we’ve seen. We expect to attract users away from Single Occupant Vehicles. Top>
How much will users have to pay to belong to HOVER, and to use the service?
Our system will enable us to charge members as much as we (you and us) agree. The more we charge them, the less the number of people who will sign up. The less we charge, the more will sign up. In fact, if we paid people to sign up we would get even greater uptake.
The right amount to charge will probably be different for every city.
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Does the system have to be called HOVER if we implement it in our city?
We recognise that every city likes to be different and unique. We expect that there will be small differences between HOVER implementations in different cities. We are able to be very flexible with naming and other implementation matters to ensure that the solution works well for the people in their city.
We like the HOVER and HOVERPORT brands because we’ve invested in giving them meaning. We hope that your uptake would be greater if the name used incorporates these brands. But we are open to discussions on this.
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