New app helps drivers find passengers to use HOV lanes

SEATTLE, Wash. (KOMO) — If you're tired of sitting by yourself in traffic, watching other drivers with passengers whiz by in the HOV lane, you might want to check out a new app.

Scoop just launched in the Seattle, Bellevue area, leveraging cars already on the road to be more efficient and carry more than the driver.

Instead of setting up your own carpool, scoop triangulates the addresses of users who sign up looking for a ride and where they're going.

Nikhil Sinha is using it. He does not have a car, so he uses this ride-sharing app to get himself to and from work at T-Mobile from his apartment in Renton.

He schedules his ride to work the night before.

Sinha said he enjoys collaborating with co-workers during the ride or meeting neighbors.

Plus, he said it saves him time and money, since his company, T-Mobile, subsidizes the service.

"Because the company is being a part of the price per trip I can save on my cost of communing as well so I find it quite easy to snap," Sinha said.

Swedish Health Services also partnered with Scoop to help employees reach campus.

Transportation Coordinator Mark Melnyk says many of their employees work odd shifts, which makes it harder to use public transportation.

"We've heard a lot of feedback positive feedback from our caregivers that are excited to be able to leave their cars at home and find a carpool which is going to save them money time and aggravation getting to work," Melnyk said.

Right now, he said more than 400 Swedish employees are signed up to use the app.

Scoop said carpoolers share the cost of the trip with the driver, so a ride could cost $2 to $10 based on distance and route.