Online carpooling service offered for 1st time
Students seeking a way to travel safely during school vacations now have an online option.
Student Association began Syracuse RideShare last week, a carpooling program that makes traveling easier and more efficient, said Greg Boilard, SA’s co-chair of the Student Life Committee. SA has been promoting the program this week before the start of Spring Break.
Students traveling off campus can post their travel needs online to notify other users where they wish to travel, and drivers can also post their information online, Boilard said. The website, SyracuseRideShare.syr.edu, automatically matches riders to drivers, he said.
Boilard said this program has three initiatives: to help students who want to carpool, to help staff members who want to commute to campus together and to protect the environment by thinking green.
The program has been in the works for the last year and is now open to all students at Syracuse University and the State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry, Boilard said. RideShare has not yet gained much attention around campus because it has only been available for a week, he said.
A commercial for RideShare was made by SA, Boilard said. But there were some problems launching the commercial, so SA is working to air it after Spring Break.
Boilard said SA members have made pamphlets and will hang posters in the dining halls to promote the program. SA wants to get the word out so students can take full advantage of the program, Boilard said.
Joseph Matarazzo, a freshman accounting major, said he had never heard of the program before. Trying to find a ride home for Spring Break, Matarazzo put his name and contact information on the SA bulletin board in the Schine Student Center.
The SA bulletin board is a place for students to post their names and contact information if they are either looking for a ride or offering one.
Although Matarazzo does not mind having his contact information on the bulletin board, he said a company or organization like RideShare could do a better job of finding a ride for him because using the bulletin board means he has to rely on someone to answer his post and offer him a ride.
Published on March 9, 2011 at 12:00 pm
