{"id":303,"date":"2014-11-25T16:00:22","date_gmt":"2014-11-25T21:00:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cusjc.ca\/gridlock\/?p=303"},"modified":"2014-11-25T16:22:59","modified_gmt":"2014-11-25T21:22:59","slug":"blurred-lines-ride-sharing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cusjc.ca\/gridlock\/blurred-lines-ride-sharing\/","title":{"rendered":"Blurred lines of ride-sharing"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Evelyn Harford<\/p>\n

\"Photo<\/a>
Photo illustration “Legal” vs. “illegal” ride-shares
(Photo \u00a9 Joakim Formo at Flickr Creative Commons.
Modified by\u00a0Evelyn Harford)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u00a0<\/i><\/p>\n

Ride-sharing is a cheap transport alternative in a legal grey-zone.<\/p>\n

Uber has come under-siege recently by the City of Ottawa, which calls it an illegal ride-sharing company. However, the City of Ottawa continues to promote carpooling among its residents. The line drawn\u00a0between illegal <\/em>and legal <\/em>ride-shares remains blurry.<\/p>\n

Ride-sharing is a transaction between a driver and passenger to share a ride from point a to point b.<\/p>\n

Ottawans, like Algonquin College student Adrian Sterling, flock to the web in search of cheap ride-sharing options. Sterling frequently uses Kijiji to find cheap rides when he travels to Toronto or Waterloo.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf I was to go every week for a month, I would save about $100 dollars,\u201d said Sterling. \u201cI use ride-shares because they\u2019re more efficient, I find I get there quicker, there\u2019s not as many stops.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sterling said that he usually likes to hitch a ride with the same ride-share driver each time he travels. With different drivers offering a variety of destinations and prices, it is always easy to find a ride.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are other students. It\u2019s a good experience,\u201d he said. \u201cAt first I was skeptical about it. When you think of ride-shares you automatically think it\u2019s you and the driver, and maybe one other person. It could be dangerous or something, but it\u2019s always been a good experience, there could be two guys and three girls, we\u2019ll play games on the way down and crack jokes.\u201d<\/p>\n

Proponents of ride-share say the trend is growing. There were 51 ride-share Kijiji ads posted today alone. Others use Craigslist and social media platforms like Facebook and Tumblr to both find and advertise ride-shares.<\/p>\n

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