Launching the Service: Reaching a Critical Mass by Establishing an Internet-Based Service

Abstract

The objective of the first project phase was to reach a critical mass of users, since a carpooling service cannot continue without a minimum offer of trips and requests. As a first step, an internet-based service has been established to acquire a minimum number of users as the “backbone” of the service. Since an internet-database requires determining fix dates for travelling, only carpoolers with more or less fix travel times can use this service during the initial phase. Completing a personal profile with fixed travel times is simple and familiar for most user groups. Therefore, on this stage, there are barely general concerns on behalf of the users about the technological requirements of the service. Still, users have to show a general acceptance for the service concept and the technical components need to be user-friendly. There are, however, a high number of internet-based carpooling services, which do not meet this pre-requisition.