Intercity travel within Texas gets shakeup from 22-year-old growing rival company to both UPS/FedEx and Uber/Lyft
HOUSTON, June 8, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Hitch is the Texas-grown, affordable alternative to long-haul ride share and same-day courier service, growing 50% month over month this year. The company is giving not only Uber and Lyft a run for their money, but UPS and FedEx as well.
With Hitch, same-day deliveries between 11 of the most populous Texas cities is (on average) 10 times less the price of UPS, FedEx and other courier services. Ride share with Hitch for trips over 50 miles is also typically five times less expensive than Uber and Lyft, while simultaneously providing more revenue for the drivers.
Until now there has not been much of a shakeup in the 50 – 350 mile transportation space, which is what attracted investment for expansion from the founders of uShip, the world's largest freight transportation marketplace.
"Affordable, emergency shipping is a game changer. Hitch is bringing people together in really meaningful ways after a tough year of isolation. The stories are heartwarming - from vital medications delivered that were accidentally left behind, to perishable care packages couriered between shut-in family and friends. We constantly hear from our customers that they didn't think they could afford to send what they needed to or get to where they wanted to go until they discovered us," said Hitch investor Jay Manickam, whom also co-founded uShip, Everfest and several other well-known Texas startups.
College students in particular are the main drivers flocking to Hitch to make money by simply driving between school and other Texas cities they visit anyway, and only Hitch offers the option to see if your friends are headed to where you are, before you book a ride — something the company calls hacking serendipity.
The interesting backstory on how a college student started a viable company
Hitch was founded out of the desire to affordably connect. When the pandemic first began,Singh's mother wanted to send him some homemade Indian food from Dallas to UT Austin, but same-day shipping would have cost hundreds of dollars. That's when the light bulb went off and he developed the company with zero capital, logging over 25,000 miles behind the wheel to prove his model worthy of investment.
Singh, now 22, was not even old enough to rent a car to test out his model — he had to borrow his friend's car to drive people and items between Texas cities. He did this for free for over a year, never telling passengers he was the CEO, and even wrecked his friend's car in the process. The end result was all worth it: a viable company that is successfully filling the 50 - 350 mile ride share gap that no company has been able to quite master yet.
"No one wants to take a crowded bus, plane or Uber to get between Texas cities when you can have a private car for way less money. Ride share services such as Uber and Lyft are made for short distances, not puddle-jumping between cities. Car ownership has been on the decline for years, and is still trending that way. With business and student traveling heavily resuming, Hitch is filling a huge gap in the market for affordable, convenient, comfortable transportation," said Singh.
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SOURCE Hitch
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