Description: A membership organization that offers rides exclusively to the elder generation of people who can no longer drive themselves.
Opportunity: Older adults currently make up approximately 23 percent of the total population in Florida. By 2020, that number will likely increase to 28 percent—nearly one-third of the state’s population. That number is expected to grow even more substantially by 2030. Given the higher population of seniors in Florida, do we need to think more carefully about older adults and auto accident risks? The highest fatal accident rates are among Florida drivers who are aged 85 and older, but statistics show a significant increase in accident rates when drivers reach the age of 70. Beyond driving risks, some older citizens suffer from various ailments that prevent them from being able to drive themselves.
I have found that older people who cannot drive themselves most notably express this need when they need to go somewhere, such as a doctors’ appointment, and no one they know is available to drive them or public transportation is not an option.
To find a solution to this problem a customer first may ask a friend or family member for a ride. However, these people may have job and family obligations that make them unable to provide them with a ride. Then, this customer may turn to public transportation to get them where they need to go. In many parts of Florida public transportation is very limited and older citizens might not have access to public transportation. Also, they may have safety concerns related to using public transportation. However, these solutions are often flawed because friends or family members may not always be available when needed and public transportation may not be a viable option for a lot of people.
I believe that this window of opportunity will remain open and continue to grow until a proper solution to this problem is found.
Innovation: We are different from any other similar business because we cater to the older community. All of our drivers would be CPR certified and have some Emergency training as well as clear background checks and driving records, so you know you are in safe hands with us. Also, for those who are medically unable to drive we may even be covered by their health insurance. We would also have hubs placed across the city, so that a customer could have a ride at their door minutes after calling.
When I asked potential customers about their preferred method of payment for the type of service that I plan to offer, they cited interest in a monthly member cost for customers who plan to use the service consistently. they also noted that there should be a pricing tier for customers who wish to pay per ride.
What matters most to the people that I interviewed when considering the "rightness" of the purchase are quality of service, timeliness, and safety. Customers want to be able to rely on the service to be prompt, so customers will not be late to any possible appointments. Safety is a big concern with customers, they want to know that they will be safe in transit and safe in the company of our drivers.
Venture Concept: For this business I plan to start in The Villages and grow to be available throughout the state of Florida. I am offering this venture idea to The Villages citizens age 60 and older who can no longer drive themselves or do not like driving themselves but still have places to go and things to do.
I am offering my customers the idea of no more car payment, no more car maintenance stress, no more driving anxiety, and no more relying of other people to get you where you want to go. I am also offering a one week free trial of my service to people who are interested in signing up for the monthly membership so that they can experience my service before they have to sign up.
My customers care because if they cannot drive themselves and they have no one who can drive them then they are stuck at home. Or if they do not like driving they may let that limit them in the things they do. Studies have shown that there are countless benefits of an active social life for older adults, and my business would make that possible.
Some of the alternatives to my service that have been mentioned in my past interviews are public transportation, car services such as Uber/Lyft, and family and friends. Above all the people that I interviewed said they relied on friends of family members to give them a ride.
Future of the Business: I believe that this ventures most important resource will be the quality of service, the timeliness of our drivers, and the level of safety our service can provide to our customers on a consistent, reliable basis.
The next opportunity that I would like to tackle with this current innovation, is to expand to other states across the United States.
In five years with this venture, I would like to be well established in our first city and looking to expand and provide our services to a second city.
I received some great feedback on my first venture concept. Some of the things that were mentioned are having a great use of facts about the population of older people over the years, and the idea of adding a free week promotion to allow people to try my service before committing to a membership.
Based off of what I learned from the feedback I received from the first venture concept I did, I decided to add a free week for people who wish to try out my service before signing up for a membership, because I think that it would be a great way to let people see how our service works before having to commit to a membership.
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