RETRy: IntegRating RidEsharing with Existing Trip PlanneRs

Ridesharing services are getting a lot of attention in the recent years as they are beneficial for both travelers and drivers, and friendly to the environment. The problem is that these services are isolated from existing public transportation networks. They are proposed as alternative plans and not as part of a trip plan. Integrating these services may vastly improve the trips quality and serve as a backup plan in case delays or unexpected events happen. The main challenge facing the integration is limiting the search space and coping with the specific characteristics of ridesharing. This paper introduces RETRy, a system that enables the integration of ridesharing services with existing trip planners to provide real multi-modal trip planning solutions in near-real time.