Waze Carpool is Shutting Down

[EddMarkStarr]

31 October 2022

Today is the final day of operation for Waze Carpool.
All other Waze services will continue as usual, but the demand for ridesharing wasn't strong enough.

 

[NotHardUp1]

President Carter tried to lead Americans to conserve energy by wasting less. It was a civic mindedness that seemingly evaporated after the 1960's.

Americans were having none of it.

It was one of the major planks in Reagan's campaign, that we were a rich and powerful nation, a nation of plenty, and that it was our birthright to consume, literally part of the American Dream.

Small cars only made headway when the oil embargo and OPEC made the land yachts unaffordable. As soon as that was over, Americans not only refused to carpool, but pursued buying larger and larger SUVs, supposedly in the name of keeping the wifey and kiddies safe, all the while driving with a hard-on from all the power imagery used to sell SUVs.

We'll need another crisis to provoke actual conservation. Maybe a typhoon hitting LA, or a volcano erupting in Yellowstone. It will definitely need to impact the mainland in a huge way, and somewhere other than Florida for Americans to give two shits about the state impacted.

 

[NotHardUp1]

Speaking of Carter, his death seems likely in the next year or two. It will be an awkward situation, since by tradition, the presidents add to their own prestige by attending one another's funerals. That raises the specter of Trump being unwelcomed by the Carter family. As Carter called Trump an "illegitimate president" due to the proven interference by Russian bots in social media sites, it seems likely that Trump would opt not to attempt attending anyway.

But, the image of a partial presidential presence will be damning to the institution, even with one Republican president in attendance. But, I digress.

 

[Vannie]

First I've heard of Waze carpooling.

 

[EddMarkStarr]

President Carter tried to lead Americans to conserve energy by wasting less. It was a civic mindedness that seemingly evaporated after the 1960's.

Americans were having none of it.

It was one of the major planks in Reagan's campaign, that we were a rich and powerful nation, a nation of plenty, and that it was our birthright to consume, literally part of the American Dream.

Small cars only made headway when the oil embargo and OPEC made the land yachts unaffordable. As soon as that was over, Americans not only refused to carpool, but pursued buying larger and larger SUVs, supposedly in the name of keeping the wifey and kiddies safe, all the while driving with a hard-on from all the power imagery used to sell SUVs.

We'll need another crisis to provoke actual conservation. Maybe a typhoon hitting LA, or a volcano erupting in Yellowstone. It will definitely need to impact the mainland in a huge way, and somewhere other than Florida for Americans to give two shits about the state impacted.

Absolutely Amazing!

Yes - I haven't thought about the Carter Administration asking Americans to rethink automobile use for a long time.
Starting with the OPEC petroleum embargo of 1974, the US Department of Transportation in conjunction with the Federal Highway Administration and the Advertising Council; a series of PSA's were produced asking drivers to conserve and, "Share The Ride".

President Carter couldn't resist rubbing it in - but the Ad Council sure made his efforts fun to watch.

 

[rareboy]

Was WAZE a regional thing?

I had never heard of it either.

But it was George Bush Sr. who declared at a climate conference while he was in office that "The American way of life was non-negotiable".

And apparently, with everyone buying bigger, heavier, gas sucking vehicles since then, he was right.

 

[EddMarkStarr]

Hey rareboy, thanks for reminding me.

WAZE started as a "crowd sourced" satellite navigation app as a subsidiary of Google, but added carpooling later.
The coverage was not nationwide but available in select cities, almost as a feasibility study. As you have guessed carpooling apps are problematic.

Only the carpooling side is closed down, WAZE navigation is still a very popular smartphone app.

 

[Rickrock]

I have never heard of it, but if it is only in some locations and I am not tech savvy it makes sense.