Two new online ventures, Zimride and GoLoco, are harnessing the power of the social networking platform Facebook to update carpooling for the 21st Century. While ride-sharing programs have been around for years, some people find them a little scary as you can wind up sharing a car with someone you don’t know. By integrating their ride-matching with Facebook, Zimride and GoLoco are able to offer users the user profiles of people they might want to share a ride with, helping reduce that fear.
Zimride creator Logan Green launched the site after living in Isla Vista, California for three years without a car, and taking the train or bus or bumming rides from friends to visit his girlfriend in Los Angeles. He writes on the site, “I was inspired to create a better way. … Zimride makes carpooling safer and easier by using your facebook account, so that you can know a little bit about a person before you share a ride with them.”
GoLoco doesn’t reveal the history of its genesis, but does offer a twist that Zimride doesn’t: the ability to divvy up online the cost of a shared ride. Says the website, “You can use GoLoco to share rides for free. Or you can choose to share trip costs quickly and easily online before the trip without the awkward money discussion or exchange in the car. GoLoco collects each passenger’s share of the total trip costs before the trip begins and transfers it to the driver using online accounts. We charge a 10 percent transaction fee.”
A recent New York Times article about GoLoco notes that its CEO, Robin Davis, is a co-founder of Zipcar, a rental fleet offering cars by the hour, specific to a locale.
ABCNews.com featured both companies in a story last week.
I bet we’ll be seeing many ways emerge that integrate social-networking platforms to enhance eco-friendly activities and business ventures.
