Should a ridesharing platform be allowed a patent?

Question

In reference to the patent: US20150058051

Knowing companies like Uber, AirBnb, RelayRides are share economy companies, what makes this company any different? If this man get a patent, does that mean he owes the parking space for the entire USA. How about companies like JustPark, ParkingPanda, do they infringe on this enterprise. Granting a patent on this would be like saying that this man owes all of the public and private property listed within United States, and all have to pay to him for his "original" idea.

The first claim reads:

A method comprising:

receiving a first set of inputs from a first user, the first set of inputs comprising information associated with at least one the following: a location of a property, a time the property is available, and a cost for occupying the property within the available time;

creating, based on the first set of inputs, a listing for the property; publishing the listing in a first user interface, the first user interface comprising a plurality of listings;

receiving a second set of inputs from a second user, the second set of inputs comprising at least one of the following: an approximate location and a period of time;

filtering the plurality of listings based on the second set of inputs; displaying, in the first user interface, the filtered plurality of listings to the second user;

receiving, from the second user, a selection of one the plurality of listings;

providing a second user interface to the second user, the second user interface being operative to:

display property data associated with the selected one of the plurality of listing, and

enable the second user to request use of the property;

receiving a request to use the property from the second user;

conveying the request to use the property to the first user;

receiving an acceptance of the request from the first user; and

facilitating a financial transaction between the first user and the second user.

Answer 1

First of all, the cited document is an application not a patent. Claims in applications are often far broader than the resulting patents. Anyone operating a related business prior to the application date would constitute prior art. It doesn't mean an overly broad patent might not be eventually issued, but it is unlikely to impact those existing businesses. It would be useful for those existing businesses to monitor the application and challenge any resulting patent if they feel it is invalid.