What if public transit didn't need to be... well, public?

Technology may drive public transit out of business. Uber has launched a service similar to Hitch (TechCrunch) that aims to help commuters carpool/pool cab money when they're going to similar places.

It doesn't seem like a far leap to imagine a day that you could have small mini buses or even driverless cars/buses that have the capacity to pick up more people while competing against each other (and maybe what governments should do is just create pick up points?). Market driven technology tends to save time and/or money - and in this case, it promises to do both.

Given how expensive and slow moving most public transit systems are - not to mention probably bad for the environment (Freakonomics), that may be a good thing.