It's a sunny afternoon in Hillsboro's Brookwood neighborhood, and you need to go to the bank in the Crossroads shopping center.
Your car is almost out of gas, though, and you don't want to have to head down to the cheaper station on Tualatin Valley Highway, out of your way, before running your errand.
Enter GoPoint.
One of 20 projects in the running for a $5 million grant as part of the Bloomberg Philanthropies' Mayors Challenge, GoPoint is a product of Hillsboro's sustainability program.
So how does GoPoint help you with your bank errand?
Peter Brandom, Hillsboro's sustainability manager, said the concept is like this: You'd tell your smartphone that you were looking for a ride. Meanwhile, another GoPoint user is already planning on making a trip through your neighborhood to the AmberGlen area, just past your bank.
GoPoint tells that driver that you're looking for a ride. And since that user is a kind Hillsboro driver, they give you a lift.
"If we can begin to think more and more of cars not as pets… and more as assets to make our communities more efficient, we're moving in the right direction," Brandom said.
GoPoint isn't just about cars. It would also give users real-time access to bikeshare, carshare and other transportation options near where they are.
With transit service in Hillsboro fairly limited aside from MAX Blue Line and the 57-Tualatin Valley Highway bus line, some creative ideas to get people around were in order.
"Any particular hub can include one or more of these non-driving alone options, if you will, from car sharing to hourly rental," Brandom said.
The winners, expected to be announced in April, will receive a $5 million grants to finish their project. Four runners-up will receive $1 million grants.
"The intent from the Bloomberg Philanthropies is to essentially develop programs that have great potential to be replicated to benefit community life," Brandom said.
The GoPoint concept was recently part of a readers' choice contest on The Huffington Post, with winners expected to be announced soon.