"A lot of carpool companies have tried to do one or the other: provide software for organizations or provide a public ride-share platform," Mr. Zimmer said.
TCDC, who is apparently experienced with the public ride-sharing or "slugging" system set up around Washington for commuters, commented that, "There is a degree of uncertainty regardless of how many precautions you take," and that holds true for both driver and passenger.
In addition, the township has about 20 miles of public riding trails, weaving mainly through privately owned lands.
Despite attempts by lawmakers in New York, Connecticut and New Jersey to create public riding parks, which are advocated by riders, politicians and environmentalists alike, the scarcity of remote land has stymied efforts.
The county has hosted a number of races and public rides since the London 2012 Olympics, including the RideLondon 100-miles cycle last month when 16,500 cyclists took to the roads.
But the cost to riders in such cases, which can exceed $1,000, does not seem to be a deterrent to some, said Daniel P. Losquadro, a Suffolk County legislator and proponent of public riding parks.
He is a mayor who reads e-mail sent personally to him from the public, rides the subway to City Hall and loves nothing more than for a stranger to approach him in a restaurant requesting a photograph.
Zoepf goes on to call for Uber to provide better access to data to enable robust and independent analysis of the economics of the ride-sharing model, pointing out there is "no public ride-hailing data and a paucity of independent studies outside Uber's own analyses".
Hyundai debuted its self-driving tech this week, with the first public rides provided on the streets of Las Vegas ahead of CES in January.
