Shared economy comes to long-distance travel
Looking for a way to make travel from Philadelphia to Delaware’s beaches as cheap and efficient as possible, Jon Corrin said the new Atlas Rideshare app is based on the idea of a collaborative economy.
It’s about being resourceful, he said, using the rental marketplace Airbnb as a much larger example of how this shared-economy business model can be successful.
“People share the resources they have, especially when they’re not using them,” he said.
Atlas Rideshare is a long-distance rideshare app that cuts travel expenses by connecting riders and drivers headed in the same direction.
Corrin, who majored in mass communications at the University of Delaware, said as college students, he and business partner Pierce Demarreau, who majored in computer science at the Naval Academy, recognized the need for a long-distance ridesharing service because they came home a lot. The two young men are longtime friends and graduates of Caesar Rodney High School.
Demarreau, a computer science major at the Naval Academy, designed the app. “He surprises me everyday,” said Corrin of Demarreau’s computer know-how.
Corrin, with his mass communication major with a minor in advertising from the University of Delaware, described himself as the traction guy.
“It’s my job to do all the outreach,” he said. “Anything it takes to get Atlas recognized.”
Corrin said the app works by matching drivers with riders who are going in the same general direction. Riders are charged $1 for the number of miles a driver has to go out of their way to make the pickup and then 20 cents for the number of miles the rider is traveling.
Corrin said Altas provides a much cheaper model than larger competitors like Uber and Lyft. Atlas doesn’t hire the drivers and makes money by charging the driver and rider a service fee, he said.
Corrin has lived in Philadelphia for the past few months. He said he’s hoping Atlas can tap into the daily commuting community. He said more than 400,000 people are commuting into or out of Philadelphia for work daily, and he said, 75 percent of those people drive solo.
During the summer, he said he’d like the app to be a popular method for Philadelphia residents heading to Delaware’s beaches to ride together.
People in our age demographic are heading to places like Dewey Beach, said Corrin.
“It’s the hot spot of Delaware,” he said.
For more information on Atlas Rideshare go to rideatlas.com or download the app.
Chris Flood has been working for the Cape Gazette since early 2014. He currently covers Rehoboth Beach and Henlopen Acres, but has also covered Dewey Beach and the state government. He covers environmental stories, business stories and random stories on subjects he finds interesting, and he also writes a column called Choppin’ Wood that runs every other week. He’s a graduate of the University of Maine and the Landing School of Boat Building & Design.
