At a quick glance, there are five local Facebook pages for finding carpools. Each of the tri-colleges have a page, and there are a few general ones as well – all filled with posts of people looking to get somewhere. Mainly, Minneapolis-St. Paul.

“Anyone leaving for Fargo today? Will pay for gas!” reads a recent post.

Another, “Heading to the cities on Wednesday. $15.”

Amidst the asks and offers, there’s a lot of clutter. Prices vary, some posts appear overlooked, and one page got so flooded with un-related ads, the frustrated admin posted: “Please report those sh*tty ads so I can delete them.”

Fargo local Matt Sullivan spent years without a car, navigating these pages whenever he needed a ride home to Minneapolis.

“Using Facebook is not ideal whatsoever. It works, but it’s messy,” Sullivan said.

This is the problem he and Jordan Nelson are tackling by developing a rideshare mobile application, called Jumpr.

Bringing ridesharing to Fargo

Jumpr is an app that aims to provide a much cleaner platform for carpooling, or ridesharing. It allows drivers to post trips, and riders to buy a spot on those trips. Once a rider finds a trip that works, they sign up for a seat and pay the driver via the app.

Jumpr uses Stripe to secure all payments. Drivers can make up to $600 and at the end of the year, Stripe sends them a 1099, Sullivan said. Rides will average around $10-20, and Jumpr will offer a suggested price for drivers based on car type and length of trip.

Following the trust-accountability model of many sharing platforms, Jumpr also allows riders and drivers to leave reviews of each other. Rating categories range from cleanliness to friendliness.

The app is styled similarly to other sharing platforms like Airbnb and Blablacar, Sullivan said. Blablacar is a ridesharing platform that currently does not exist in the United States.

“But it’s only a matter of time before they [Blablacar] realize if Uber can do it, so can we. So it’s definitely about getting it out there first and being the best,” Sullivan said.

Both Sullivan and Nelson work full-time for Botlink, a Fargo startup developing software for drones. They work on Jumpr in their spare time – sometimes, Nelson said, at midnight when he’s struck with an idea. Sullivan is programming the back-end, while Nelson is in charge of User Experience.

Jumpr the World

Some of Jumpr’s additional features will include a Discover page, in the spirit of Airbnb, where users can browse upcoming events, concerts, and adventures they might want to join. They also hope to offer a little more information on Jumpr profiles, so that riders and drivers can connect over common ground.

“Say you’re trying to get a ride to Frisco. Jumpr would let you say you’re going to an NDSU game,” Nelson said. “We want people to start finding more of why you’re going where you’re going.”

 

Their market is already eager for the product to release, Sullivan said. He recently posted a mock-up design of the app in all the rideshare pages he could find, and the responses were positive.

“This service will help you get where you need to go a lot quicker!” wrote one user, linking to Jumpr’s page.

“I can’t wait to jump,” said Fargo local, Drew Spooner.

Currently, the team is building up their blog (check it out here) and hopes to launch a web-based version of the app within the next two months. Eventually, they want Jumpr to become a powerful tool for nationwide travel.

“We want someone to be able to travel across the entire country, using only the Jumpr network,” Sullivan said.

Stay tuned! Sign up here for Jumpr’s early access.

 

Photos courtesy of Marisa Jackels and Jumpr.