Using Online Social Sites To Boost Carpooling
If you canada goose uk shop want to regain some of the money you’ve blown on the stock market, you may start by carpooling. Internet entrepreneurs see an opportunity in the canada goose high price canada goose outlet of canada goose black friday sale gas. Several new Web startups are using online social networking to help people share rides. NPR’s Curt Nickisch has more.
CURT NICKISCH: Every weekday in Boston, Anita Horn does what millions of Americans do. She gets behind the wheel and she drives to work.
NICKISCH: Another day, another drive, always alone. Lately, it’s gotten to be more of a drag thanks to gas prices. Horn also feels bad about the carbon dioxide her canada goose coats sedan is pushing out of its tailpipe. She’d really rather Canada Goose Outlet carpool and split the impact of both.
Ms. HORN: That’s a big jump, just right there. Taking one person and having one person in your car and having to deal with one other person’s schedule is really not that bad.
NICKISCH: So Horn signed up on a Web site looking for someone to share Canada Goose Coats On Sale her commute.
Ms.
NICKISCH: That’s Robin Chase. She founded GoLoco.
Ms. CHASE: Think when you go to the grocery store, you bump into your neighbor, you think, how fun, how great. You know, you’re canada goose factory sale doing a canada goose clearance little bit uk canada goose outlet of gossip. So surprising to see you here. When in fact that kind of serendipity could be happening not by serendipity but by plan.
NICKISCH: Here’s how it works. Say you’re a driver. You post online where you’re heading canada goose coats on sale and when. You also give details like what you listen to buy canada goose jacket cheap in the car and what you want for reimbursement. Riders go online and check out an interactive map. If they canadian goose jacket want to join your route, you get an Canada Goose Jackets e mail. Or they can place their own posting looking for a ride. Afterwards, each person can rate the other, helping other users get a better idea of what to expect. If you ask for money some people don’t the rider pays through an online account.
CEO Robin Chase says drivers are cool with Canada Goose online the 10 percent commission GoLoco charges, because overall this service can really save them.
Ms. CHASE: The total car cost, not buy canada goose jacket just canada goose clearance sale the gas cost, it really realigns when and why you’re willing to drive.
NICKISCH: But not necessarily with whom yet. Rachel Hoppy is with IDC Research, and she’s an expert on social networks.
Ms. RACHEL HOPPY (IDC Research): They succeed best with a passionate audience. People aren’t passionate about gas.
NICKISCH: At least cheap Canada Goose not enough, she says, to sign up for a cheap canada goose uk new service in droves to really get online ridesharing firing on all cylinders.
Ms. HOPPY: There is canada goose uk black friday so much complexity in routes that you have to have a huge group of passionate people to really satisfy all the different demands that are out there.
NICKISCH: And jacketstock even then there Canada Goose sale will inevitably be canada goose uk outlet these same old carpool hassles when someone flakes or has a last minute emergency and can’t canada goose store go. But the higher the price of gas climbs, the more people will be willing to put up with the occasional problem. These new Web sites make it easier for those people to find each other and share a ride.
Curt Canada Goose Parka Nickisch, NPR News, Boston.
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