Hoos Driving, Hoos Riding, Hoos Clubbing?

Many UVA students are aware of the Facebook Group, "Hoos Driving, Hoos Riding." I personally am a member of the general group as well as the "NOVA" specific group. In a nutshell, they are forums where members of the group may post to either ask for a ride or announce that they are willing to drive on a specific date/time/place - it's a market for informal ridesharing. Once users match themselves accordingly by either looking through the posts themselves or having helpful friends "tag" them in comment sections, the two parties agree upon a time and place, and upon a "price." The price is typically compensation paid to the driver, usually for gas.

While there are many aspects to pick at here, such as how users match themselves (are certain posts more attractive than others?) or how price can be negotiated (on long weekends, are the drivers able to charge higher prices and still have riders?) I'd like to focus on entry into the market in the first place. I rarely post to ask for a ride and never announce when I could offer a ride: I usually exhaust all possible avenues where I could ask a friend for a ride when I am in need, with the full intention of paying them for gas, whereas I will offer a ride casually to a friend and expect no compensation in return. When considering the amount of people who are constantly looking for a ride to northern Virginia and the price I could charge, my non-announcement is not rational. Why would I rather not enter the ride market and gain money than remain silent and potentially drive someone who I don't let pay me nearly as much as the prices in the Facebook Group?

Personally, I enjoy having company in the car when I drive the 2 hours back to NOVA, but I would much rather have a friend that I am comfortable making conversation with for two hours. Essentially, this would mean that I am valuing the friend and their company at the price that I could post for in the group. If we frame it as in Buchanan's Club Theory, we see that for me, the optimal number of ride sharers is based not only on the physical number of people, but also on my emotional proximity to them. My utility in using this ridesharing situation increases as I have a friend in the car (either riding or driving) and decreases as it gets too crowded. Perhaps the "membership fee" into this club is friendship itself, and everyone who is connected in the Facebook Group feels this to different degrees - after all, we're all Hoos, which is an exclusive club in itself.