AMMAN — An app designed by a Jordanian engineer allowing people with mutual pick-up and drop-off locations to share rides is slowly gaining popularity, but it has raised questions on whether Jordanians are ready for such a change.

 

The method of payment is left for the car owner and the passenger to decide, which means that the administration of the app does not make money except through ads and sponsorship, explained Ahmad Fareed Al Saif, a mechanical engineer who launched JoDrive last month. 

 

The app is running on Android and is expected to be active on iOS soon, according to the designer, who told The Jordan Times in a recent interview that the idea occurred to him when he was a college student suffering from the hassle of the transportation system in Amman. 

 

“The App is basically a link between people who live in the same area and go to the same destination,” he added. Ride providers can be detected and contacted through the technology and life will be easier for both, the 28-year-old mechanical engineer said.

 

App users responding to a quick survey over social media told The Jordan Times that the idea is “timely and creative”.

 

Ali Nasrallah said over Facebook: “It is a good idea and would be good to the environment.” But Bahaa Shtyh said he has not succeeded in finding a ride as the concept itself is new in many aspects. The application’s official launch is yet to be arranged, but so far, the Facebook page of the app has attracted 50,000 followers.

 

However, there are social and legal issues to the concept of shared rides in a conservative society.

 

In the past, using a private car as a means of public transportation was illegal, but Spokesman of the Public Security Department Lt. Colonel Amer Sartawi, told The Jordan Times that apps like JoDrive can be licensed by the Ministry of ICT.

 

The story does not end here. What if there was an accident and the passenger is hurt or killed?  

 

According to tribal traditions, which still count in Jordan, the driver of any vehicle is, in principle, liable for any harm inflicted on his/her passengers, explained Aref Abbadi, a tribal figure and expert on tribal traditions. 

 

“Offering rides to strangers is still risky and has complications,” the sheikh said, adding, however, that things are changing and the family of wounded or killed passengers tend now to show understanding and accept insurance settlements.

 

The app designers may not have thought of the tribal factor, but have surely considered social issues. A key example is that one of the options for the ride seekers is whether a woman, for example, would accept to share a ride with a man.