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PickupPal Launches World's First Online Transportation Marketplace
BRIDGETOWN, Barbados, March 6 /PRNewswire/ -- PickupPal announces it has launched the world's first online transportation marketplace, a key resource to help commuters connect and offset global transportation environmental impacts. By 2010, it is estimated that there will be over half a billion registered private vehicles in North America and Europe, and the figures are at least double that the world over. PickupPal will allow any of these individual drivers to sell a seat or any interested person to buy a ride - in a virtual, online transportation marketplace. John Stewart, CEO and co-founder explains, "PickupPal will allow any vehicle to be dynamically and intellegently matched to a pickup, allow a driver to make money enroute and improve our environment at the same time, a clear win-win." Stewart also stresses the timeliness of this service, "if you look at the dramatic concerns and increases in car based CO(2) emissions, mounting urban traffic congestion and now, oil passing $100 US a barrel - the timing is right for such an online venue." Launched in late January, the website (http://www.pickuppal.com) has experienced tremendous growth. "It's the old cliché: build-it and they will come. Well, they're coming in droves," says Eric Dewhirst, CTO and co- founder of PickupPal. Dewhirst explains, "it's all about leveraging the Internet. No one has ever tied the enormous pool of private vehicles together with the masses of people needing to travel into a single online marketplace... PickupPal is the eBay of transportation." PickupPal encourages and allows members to post pictures of themselves , their likes and preferences, and promotes a Facebook style, social networking communications suite. A ranking system also rewards the best users. Revenue is generated by a simple commission paid by the driver to PickupPal once a ticket has been issued and a drive completed. "We are also responding to groups needing rideshare websites through our Eco-Rideshare Program, so people going to the same event (e.g., conference, festival, concert, sports game) destination and time can easily coordinate online," comments Dewhirst. "It's all about linking people with a common interest. We even track every pound of CO(2) avoided as a result - very green, very simple." PickupPal is private company. YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uuFDfYX-9b4
