ridesharing: internet round-up

Living carfree does not have mean that you never ride in a car. Every day thousands of cars travel into, out of, and around Ann Arbor empty except for the driver. If even 0.01% of these drivers were willing to take a passenger, you could probably get anywhere you like by car while living carfree. Whether you would choose to spend all that time in a car when you could be biking or walking is another issue...

Anyway, in an effort to harness the potential of empty car seats, there are a number of websites hooking up rides offered with rides needed. They aren't perfect. Safety is always an issue when accepting a ride with a stranger. EeRideShare recommends a few ways to address safety concerns:
-meet the person before agreeing to carpool
-get a copy of a picture ID
-Exchange medical info and emergency contact numbers
-Discuss safe driving ahead of time
-(I'd add) do a Google search on their name

The plethera of site offering this service spreads the offers out so that there is no central location to search for rides. I've never used any of these to get a ride and I'm not promoting any particular site.

That said, here is a list of rideshare boards I've come across on the internets. If you have used one, please add a comment on your experience.

Craigslist gets a couple new rideshare posts every day, including requests, single-trip, hired drivers, and regular commuters.

Carpoolworld arranges carpools all over the world by matching commutes for members. This one is mostly regularly scheduled commutes. They offer an RSS feed so you always no the most recent trips offered.

eRideShare appears to be the most popular free service, with lots of regular commutes, and a few long distance trips (using "Detroit" yields more long-distance trips) for Ann Arbor. They also pull posts from craigslist, but formatting can make those posts seem screwy.

AATA RideShare: see original post

CarpoolConnect allows you to search for rides by zipcode. There are lots of members in the Ann Arbor area. They also offer a RSS feed and a web midlet so that you can keep up to date on new rides.

Contributed by: Scott TenBrink

AATA RideShare service

AATA offers a free ridesharing service. The website describes the service as "computerized carpool and vanpool matching services that help people with their daily work or college commute. Applicants are matched with others who share common neighborhoods, destinations and hours." The service includes eligibility for the "guarenteed ride home" program, in which you can be reimbursed for a limited number of taxi rides each year to account for emergency needs.

Driving and cost arrangements are left up to the carpool groups. This is nice because it means you don't need a car to participate. You just need someone interested in driving for compensation.

Contributed by: Scott TenBrink

MichiVan vanpools

If you are keeping a car solely to get to work, MichiVan may be just what you need to cut a car out of your life. They set up vanpools for people who live and work in the similar areas. They say if your commute is 15 miles or more and you have a fairly regular work schedule, Michivan will work for you. If you aren't sure, they also provide a commute calculator to show your potential savings over driving to work alone. The average cost is about $75/month which includes all gas, maintenance, parking, insurance, etc.

The stumbling point is finding a vanpool group to join. MichVan does that for you, but you may have to go on a waiting list until there are enough people with a similar commute to form a group.

Contributed by: Scott TenBrink