A Texas-based ridesharing app has expanded its services to Jacksonville and other Florida cities.
Hitch, founded by Kush Singh and Tanuj Girish in 2018, aims to fill the 50- to 350-mile gap that currently exists in the rideshare transportation market. Singh claims that Uber and Lyft are too expensive for intercity travel and that bus and rail service don't offer the same flexibility as his product.
"We live in the 21st century, but the ways in which we move between cities are the exact same as the 20th century," Singh said.
Hitch has almost $850,000 in funding from six different investors, according to Crunchbase. Before expanding to Florida, Hitch carried passengers between cities like Austin, Houston, College Station, Dallas and Oklahoma City. In Florida, it will operate in Tampa, Orlando, Jacksonville, Gainesville, Miami and West Palm Beach.
The idea started several years ago when Singh commuted frequently between Dallas and Austin, Texas to visit his older brother at the University of Texas. He took Greyhound and Megabus but disliked the experience. Singh originally wanted to build an app to track Greyhound bus departure and arrivals; he was missing far too many buses.
The idea morphed into Hitch, which was originally named Krew. Singh attended the University of Texas himself but then dropped out to focus on his startup. uShip co-founders Matt Chasen and Jay Manickam connected with Singh and Girish through the Longhorn Startup Lab and became partners.
At first, the company didn't have the money to approve drivers. So Singh took it upon himself, borrowing a friend's car and pretending not to be the CEO.
"I was the CEO of the company, but I was really just a glorified taxi driver to some degree, and just doing all those trips myself," Singh said. "But it was incredible to do that, as it taught me a lot about the overall Hitch experience and really did inform a lot of our early product decisions that we made."
Singh said the vast majority of Hitch drivers are heading to their destination anyway. He couldn't disclose the exact percentage. According to the Bureau of Transportation Statistics, almost 90% of long-distance trips are made by car. Most of the trips are done solo, Singh said.
Hitch rides in Florida start at $20.
