Patent ID: 7930098

Claim:
A method for financial transactions in a rideshare system, comprising the steps of: maintaining a database of rideshare transactions, each rideshare transaction comprising at least one of passengers and drivers; identifying a rideshare transaction having at least one available space for one of potential passengers and drivers along a predetermined route; determining an economic demand for the rideshare transaction by determining at least one of a number of the potential passengers and a number of the potential drivers for the rideshare transaction; determining an economic supply for the rideshare transaction by determining at least one of a number of the passengers and a number of the drivers associated with the rideshare transaction; and setting a rideshare transaction price based at least in part upon the economic supply and the economic demand determined for the rideshare transaction; and selecting at least one of the potential passengers and the potential drivers for inclusion in the rideshare transaction along the predetermined route at the set rideshare transaction price, wherein the steps are performed by a suitably-programmed computer.