FAQ
This is a platform to facilitate carpooling trips. It's a different approach to carpooling.
The plan is that private cars can be an extension of the public transport system and not an alternative. You can turn your car into a bus. The principle behind this system is that passengers get in and out at stations and cars follow a route like a bus does. Under the hood, MetroCar uses systems that are made for the public transport industry.
No, MetroCar does not force drivers into a schedule.
Instead, the schedule is created from trips that drivers contribute. The driver is not driving for the sake of schedule, hopefully. But instead, they pick up passengers on their way because they are on their way.
For passengers, MetroCar looks like another public transport service.
You search on how to get from A to B and we will find the next departure at a station near you.
With the current features, it's currently not possible to notify the driver that you want to take a trip with them. You will have to go to the station and meet the Driver when he passes the station. Communication with the driver is coming soon.
To "be" a MetroCar these conditions have to be met:
- You need to drive somewhere in the future
- At least 2 stations need to be on your route
After you inserted your trip it will be assigned to a line number. It takes a couple of minutes until it appears in the search results.
I do!
It's a project I'm currently hosting myself with my own Money. If you like this project, please consider donating to keep the server running.
Currently, there is no regulation on pricing.
Drivers must respect the carpooling laws of their country when it comes to asking for money. In an upcoming version, we want to integrate fares and payments to make MetroCar an easy and safe experience for both the driver and the passengers. Tips on the other hand are not regulated.
We will be in Germany for a while and then probably expand the service to other European Countries, USA and/or Canada.
- A trip planner that finds stations along your route
- A comprehensive trip search
- Crowd-sourced stations (You can suggest stops here)
I'm open to ideas! Please contact me with any ideas you have or join our discord.
I'm planning several features:
- Driver communication
- Passenger check-in/out system
- Realtime position updates and alerts
- Mobile App
- Payments and fares
- Recurring trips for commuters
- A sophisticated schedule system via GTFS and GTFS-RT I'm open to ideas! Please contact me with any ideas you have or join our discord.
Carpooling, depending on the country, has a specific status that allows you to get money tax free as long as it's covering costs for your journey.
That being said, a certain kilometer price can be calculated that you can get from taking passengers with you.
Because some journey costs can be on the lower end of the euro we are forced to collect the money on our side first or else we'd have to pay a high money transaction price.
For users of this platform, this means that you will have to top up a MetroCar account/wallet with funds. Users offering rides will have to wait until a certain threshold is earned before receiving a payout.