Zimride

=Introduction= Liftsharing maximises car occupancy on any journey and can be an attractive alternative to sole car use or public transport in terms of cost. However, liftshare sites often have limited membership which reduces their usefulness. Sharing with strangers can also be one of the barriers to using liftshare schemes (due to safety/social concerns)

Carpool is a liftshare (rideshare) application embedded into Facebook allowing Facebook users to easily identify friends with whom they can share journeys. The friends feature is already a key part of the Facebook application. It overcomes some of the barriers to use of traditional liftshare services in particular concerns about sharing with strangers (since your Facebook friends are already 'known' to you).

=Product= Zimride is a facebook application that any facebook user can use to identify sharing opportunities with friends who are also on facebook. Technically it uses php, mysql, smarty, google maps api, and the facebook development platform.

=Origins= The Carpool application was developed by Logan Green, a graduate from UC Santa Barbara with an interest in transportation issues. Logan was unhappy with available services to share rides such as the ride boards on Craigslist.org explaining that "Each time there would be this nervousness ahead of time, wondering, 'Who am I going to get in the car with?' I realized that this isn't going to become mainstream until we solve the issue of knowing something about the person before you commit to riding with them."

=Impact= Widespread use of car sharing would have a significant impact on both emissions and congestion whilst also saving money for participants. Car sharing is more flexible than scheduled transport but is currently a minority activity due to the limited numbers of members. xxx people are currently members of Facebook and a other social websites also have very large memberships. Car sharing through social websites may unlock a very much higher level of car sharing in the future.

=References=

=External Links= Carpool application for Facebook by Zimride