New Facebook add-on helps with carpools

Creators say students can meet with others to plan trips home

Ball State University students can use a Facebook application to pair them with students across the nation who are traveling home for Thanksgiving break, helping them cut costs and preserve the environment.

Cornell University alumnus John Zimmer said he was part of a group of recent graduates and undergraduate students who formed the "Carpool" application on Facebook.

"We had a ride-sharing network at Cornell, and I thought it worked great," he said. "So, we wanted to do it on a national scale."

The application matches people who need a ride with people offering a ride, he said. If a match comes up, each party can view the other's information and profile picture and communicate through messages, he said.

Either person can accept or decline the other, and those offering rides can charge the riders at their discretion, Zimmer said. Parties can also split gas costs and other expenses as they choose, he said.

Carpooling and sharing rides is a way to lessen participants' effect on the environment, Zimmer said.

By avoiding driving alone, especially when headed to the same location, students can reduce their carbon dioxide emissions, he said.

"We've already seen the positive effects of this happening," he said. "Now we want to get the word out on a larger scale."

Kevin Kenyon, associate vice president of facilities planning and management, said he thinks carpooling is an excellent idea for students.

"Not only does it help the environment by cutting carbon dioxide emissions and limiting the use of fossil fuels, but it also reduces traffic and prevents new highways from being constructed," he said. "There is no downside to it, except for some safety concerns."

Kenyon said he carpooled with his peers when he was in college in the 1970s.

"I took advantage of the ride-sharing board at my university," he said. "But it might be a more dangerous situation now than it was back then."

Safety is one of the largest issues the organizers of the application are dealing with, because students might ride with strangers, Zimmer said.

"We understand the concerns, but believe Facebook itself helps with safety issues," he said. "We encourage students to use the Web site to research who they would be riding with and learn all they can about them through meeting and communicating beforehand."

Those who use the application can also limit their search to only those in their network of friends, limiting the amount of strangers they would deal with, Zimmer said.

Facebook users can add the application at no cost, he said.

Once users add it, they can view and post rides to and from any location in America, he said.

Currently 20,000 Facebook members use the four-month-old application, which has more than 2,500 carpools posted, Zimmer said.

"We're happy with the growth so far, but I would like to see 1 million users," he said.

So far, the organizers have received only positive feedback about the carpooling system, he said.

"We hope more and more people catch on and really like it," Zimmer said. "We want it to be so reliable that you never have to ride alone."

Zimmer said he is looking for a campus representative of Ball State to work with the organizers.

Numbers

  • 20,000 Facebook members use the "Carpool" application.
  • 2,500 carpools are currently posted.
  • For more information, visit http://www.zimride.com

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