Methods, systems and computer program products for ride matching based on selection criteria and drive characteristic information

A system for matching a passenger with a driver for a trip to a destination, comprising:

• characteristic information about a plurality of drivers;
• a ride matching server configured to identify one of the plurality of drivers as a candidate driver for the trip based on selection criteria associated with the passenger and the characteristic information responsive to a received request for a trip;
• and
• a communication interface configured to receive a request for a driver for a trip from the passenger and to provide contact information to the passenger and/or the identified candidate driver to match the passenger with the identified candidate driver.

A computer program product for matching a passenger with a driver for a trip to a destination, the computer program product comprising:

• a computer-readable storage medium having computer-readable program code embodied in said medium, said computer-readable program code comprising:
• computer-readable program code that identifies one of a plurality of drivers as a candidate driver for the trip based on selection criteria associated with the passenger and on characteristic information about the plurality of drivers;
• computer-readable program code that receives the selection criteria associated with the passenger;
• and
• computer-readable program code that receives a request for a driver for a trip from the passenger and provides contact information to the passenger and/or the identified candidate driver to match the passenger with the identified candidate driver.