Apparatus and methods for queueing transportation providers and passengers

An apparatus for providing transportation services for multiple users in a pick-up area, comprising:

• a first transceiver;
• and
• a first device to receive transportation provider messages from transportation providers and passenger requests from passenger mobile devices, the first device including:
• a queueing manager to:
• store the transportation provider messages in a first queue;
• and
• store the passenger requests in a second queue;
• a comparator to determine matches between the transportation provider messages and the passenger requests;
• and
• a communicator to transmit, via the first transceiver to a passenger mobile device of the passenger mobile devices, the passenger mobile device corresponding to a selected one of the passenger requests, responsive to a match between the selected one of the passenger requests and a selected one of the transportation provider messages, transportation provider information corresponding to the selected one of the transportation provider messages, the first transceiver and the first device are within a first vehicle corresponding to a first one of the transportation providers and further including a second transceiver and a second device within a second vehicle corresponding to a second one of the transportation providers,
• wherein the queueing manager is to, via the first transceiver, transmit the first queue the second queue, and a queueing module role from the first device to the second device in response to a predetermined control transfer condition, the predetermined control transfer condition includes movement of the first vehicle away from a predetermined area in which the second vehicle is located, the queueing module role enabling the second device to compare the transportation provider messages in the first queue to the passenger requests in the second queue to identify matches between the transportation provider messages and the passenger requests.

A tangible computer-readable storage medium comprising instructions that, when executed, cause a processor to, at least:

• queue in a first queue, first broadcast messages received from passenger mobile devices;
• queue in a second queue, second broadcast messages received from transportation provider mobile devices associated with transportation providers offering services at a pick-up area, the first queue and the second queue stored by a first one of the transportation provider mobile devices in the pick-up area;
• and
• compare, via the processor, each of the first broadcast messages in the first queue to the second broadcast messages in the second queue:
• identify a first match between one of the first broadcast messages and one of the second broadcast messages based on the comparison;
• identifying a second match between one of the first broadcast messages and one of the second broadcast messages based on the comparison;
• in response to a first passenger associated with the first match accepting a first offer for transportation, sending a first service location to the first passenger;
• and
• in response to a second passenger associated with the second match accepting a second offer for transportation, sending a second service location to the second passenger, the first service location different than the second service location, the first service location and the second service location selected to enable simultaneous boarding of the first passenger in a first vehicle associated with the first one of the transportation provider mobile devices and the second passenger in a second vehicle associated with a second one of the transportation provider mobile devices;
• and
• in response to identifying a movement of the first one of the transportation provider mobile devices out of the pick-up area, transmit, via a transmitter of the first one of the transportation provider mobile devices, the first queue, the second queue, and a queueing module role from the first one of the transportation provider mobile devices to a third one of the transportation provider mobile devices in the pick-up area, the queueing module role enabling the third one of the transportation provider mobile devices to compare the first broadcast messages in the first queue to the second broadcast messages in the second queue to identify matches between the first broadcast messages and the second broadcast messages.