Innovation Through Collaborative Consumption

In the Automative Industry

India: OliveTrips ridesharing company introduces eco-savings reports

URL = http://www.olivetrips.com/

"Based in Vadodara, India, OliveTrips not only connects commuters for shared trips, it also delivers periodic summaries of the savings that result.

OliveTrips not only connects commuters for shared trips, it also delivers periodic summaries of the savings that result.

Users begin by registering for free on OliveTrips with a Gmail address and mobile phone number. They then register their car, bike or other vehicle, including seating capacity, fuel type and mileage. They can also choose to include expiry dates for their insurance and pollution-under-control (PUC) documents. Next, users can post details of the trips they hope to take, including specifying whether they prefer male or female co-riders, or any other requirements. Once that’s done, OliveTrips can be used to search for other posted trips that match the user’s requirements. When one looks promising, users can express interest, prompting OliveTrips to send an email and SMS to enable direct communication between those involved.

Perhaps even more interesting, however, is that OliveTrips periodically sends users a customized EcoReport depicting the environmental benefits, financial savings, and fuel savings they’ve made from using the service. Such reports are sent quarterly for most, but can be sent monthly for the site’s heaviest users." (http://www.springwise.com/automotive/india-carpooling-service-delivers-eco-savings-reports/)

Parking Spots auction battles fuel waste in Manhattan

URL = https://parkingauction.com/

"Parking Auction have introduced an auction style web app to combat the wasted time and fuel spent looking for available parking spots in Manhattan’s Upper West Side.

In a study of one part of Brooklyn, for example, drivers in search of a parking spot accounted for a full 45 percent of city traffic; in another on the Upper West Side, it was found that people drive some 366,000 miles each year looking for a place to park. So notes Parking Auction, a New York company that uses an auction model to help solve the problem.

Now focusing on Manhattan’s Upper West Side, Parking Auction’s mobile web application uses a real-time auction to connect drivers leaving a spot with those looking for one. Users with a spot to share begin by indicating where it’s located along with specifications including any limitations on the spot, what they’d like to be paid and what kind of car they drive. Also required is a mobile phone number to which receipts can be sent. Potential buyers, meanwhile, indicate corresponding details of their own, including how soon they need to find a spot and what kind of car they drive. When buyer and seller agree on a bid, the spot can change hands.

It’s important to note that it’s not actually the spot that’s for sale on Parking Auction — most, after all, are public property. Rather, it’s the information that one is about to open up." (http://www.springwise.com/automotive/auction-app-connects-drivers-leaving-spot-seeking/)

Park Circa, p2p online rental community for parking spots

URL = http://www.parkcirca.com/

"Park Circa organizes a community of members who are either looking for parking or have parking facilities available. Members can list their driveway parking space as available when it’s not in use — earning cash when someone uses their spot. The payment method works on a ‘pay-as-you-go’ system, whereby drivers top-up credit on their Park Circa account. This is then transferred to the owner of whichever parking space the driver selects, with the hourly rates decided by the spaces’ owners. Members can view available parking spaces and complete payment via the Park Circa mobile app." (http://www.springwise.com/life_hacks/parkcirca/)

ParkSense, Issy-les-Moulineaux, France: Using ground sensors to identify open parking spots

URL = http://www.smartgrains.com/

"Websites like SpotScout and Google Open Spot can help urban drivers find a place to park, but typically they rely on other users to post the relevant details when a spot opens up. A new solution now at work in Issy-les-Moulineaux, France, however, uses in-ground sensors to provide such information automatically.

The brainchild of Paris-based SmartGrains, ParkSense is an integrated solution based on specially designed sensors that are placed directly in the ground in parking areas. The presence of a vehicle changes the sensor’s ambient magnetic field, allowing it to infer whether or not there is a vehicle in a particular spot. " (http://www.springwise.com/transportation/parksense/)

In the Finance Industry

Social Payment Services

See: Social Payment Services

Banking without Banks

See: Banking without Banks