SHARED RIDE

Today we live in a very dynamic time that is prone to rapid change to which we need to adapt. We are all witnessing a significant change in daily life caused by the spread of the covid-19 virus and the ongoing military conflict in Europe, which has caused a global health, economic and energy crisis, putting at risk important economic postulates. Just as governments need to find ways and tools to deal with the crisis, so does each individual need to change the way they think, budget and behave so that the consequences are less felt. So, inspired by rising energy prices on the one hand and the need to change people's habits in order to reduce daily costs on the other hand I came up with my business idea called "Shared ride".

"Shared ride" is an application that will serve people who constantly travel alone in their vehicle, to share fuel costs with people who are near them and have the same or similar desired location to reach. The person who has his own vehicle can enter in the application the exact location to which he is directed, the location from where he starts, but also the route he will follow. On the other hand, the users of the application who need transportation can "buy" the route if it suits their needs (place of departure, place of arrival and flow of the route). In the application, the driver of the vehicle should enter personal data (ID), telephone number, license plates, vehicle model and year and frequency of vehicle services in order to increase passenger safety. One route can be purchased by a maximum of 4 passengers, taking into account the limit of up to five passengers in one vehicle. Additionally, this application can be at city, regional and national level, i.e. several passengers can share the same vehicle if the destination is in the same city, in another city on the territory of Republic of N. Macedonia, or in a certain country outside the territory of Republic of N. Macedonia. As mentioned before, one of the main goals of this business idea is to reduce transportation costs, so the application itself has a built-in calculator that calculates the cost per person for the trip. In order for the calculator to be able to make a proper calculation of the cost per person, certain data are needed that serve as inputs: the vehicle model (according to which the application will check the consumption per kilometer), the route length (in kilometers), the current fuel price which is automatically updated daily and the number of passengers taking the route. At the beginning of the route, the driver of the car is obliged to click "start", and the passengers are obliged to locate the exact place along the route where they plan to end the trip, so the calculator having all the inputs will calculate the individual cost per the passenger weighted by the appropriate mileage. The traveler can choose whether to pay in cash or through a transaction account. Upon completion of the route and arrival at the desired location, the vehicle owner is obliged to click "stop", which means that the trip is over, and passengers are required to give a rating to the driver (from 1 to 5). The rating that each driver will have will be publicly announced on the application, which will increase the competition between drivers. If a certain driver has a low rating (1) for more than two months, he will be disabled from using this service. Also, the users of the application (vehicle owners and passengers) if they want to use the application will have to pay a monthly commission.

In addition to the main benefit that users of the application will have (reduction of travel costs), an additional positive side is that this business idea is committed to environmental protection by significantly reducing the frequency of vehicles in traffic that will reduce the air pollution caused by cars. The main threat of this business idea is the public transport which is more competitive in terms of price, but there are many other negative aspects (example: irregular lines, delays, full buses, etc.) that are solved with this idea.