I have worked in the parcel courier industry for many years and can see advantages of such a system. Do you envisage it being run within a single company or a more global system where carriers bid against each other on price?

I see it run as a single company. I suspect this requires more capital in the short term, as well as a critical mass of vehicles to make sure the network worked as a single 'organism'. But as long as the system sufficiently differentiates the service/products when compared to competitors' offerings (via price or flexibility), there would be greater value in being a single company in the long term.

I have seen a few examples of the second model here in NZ that effectively act as brokers, but I'm not sure whether the carriers bid against each other directly. Any system would have to be pretty dynamic since the idea relies on real-time tracking/information from the vehicles to work effectively, rather than waiting for carriers to finalise bidding.

The second idea may work on longer haul transport?!

The idea of a 'Haulage broker' is one that has been rattling around in my head for many years. Unfortunately a quick google found freight quote. As an automated dispatch system for motorcycle couriers/ minicabs etc though, I think this would be interesting.

Would be great to tie it into some sort of location based service using cell phones. Subscribe to the service and you could get an sms if you are near a pickup location.

Great idea.

For parcels:

Based on the number of couriers/delivery vehicles, you could potentially cut costs by handing off deliveries to the next zone's vehcile once the pickup vehicle left its designated zone. Basically it would be like dynamic cross-docking based on the locations of vehicles and the destinations of the packages.

However, while this would have lots of complexities including the revenue sharing if multiple people were involved in the delivery.

Take a look at what ecourier.co.uk are doing. They are getting a great profile in London for being so integrated with the www/gps/sms etc.

They must have the core systems you need - and may have looked at the price / time model you describe.

Perhaps they would cut a deal to franchise the core system?

Don't forget the ebay plug in :-)

Cheers Allan.

Grateful for you picking up on similar ideas around the world. This site is pretty much exactly what I was thinking, but with a slight variant around carrying people as well. Here in Auckland the public transport system sucks (London is great if you use the Tube) so I think a similar idea could apply here. I like the idea that you can use whatever mode of transport you want (e.g. cycle, van, car etc).

I wonder what makes the best margin, picking up people or packages? Probably packages given you can fit more into a van?

Its funny how ideas are sometimes arrived at in similar veins but completely independently! I see it as proof of market concept if someone else is doing a similar thing somewhere else in the world.

I rather like the idea of applying a similar system to eCourier's to allow independent operators to pick up packages/fares. An automated dispatch system say. Customer sends an sms message or phones a globally available number and the system notifies the operator best able to fulfil the request.