Thursday, July 08, 2010
Zimride: The USI network for carpooling and roadtrips
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Contact for more information:
Wendy Knipe Bredhold Media Relations Specialist, News & Information Services 812/461-5259 Zimride will allow USI faculty, staff, and students to locate drivers or rides for their daily commutes or find one-time rides. You may sign up and post a ride, or just browse the site. "We are excited to offer a program that will allow our community to easily find and share rides," said Mark Rozewski, vice president for Business Affairs. "Zimride's solution is appealing to our students, faculty, and staff, and will enable us to reduce congestion and make campus commuting more efficient for everyone." According to the Environmental Protection Agency, driving personal vehicles contributes 20 percent of overall CO2 emissions. Furthermore, ridesharing on daily commutes or on longer one-time trips will substantially reduce the cost of travel for USI students and employees. Through Zimride's web-based interface, faculty, staff, and students will be able to find others with similar commuting patterns. As a social network platform with optional Facebook integration, Zimride helps establish trust among users. You can view profiles for common networks, interests, and friends before deciding to share a ride. "One of the things that attracted us to Zimride was its social networking base," said Barry Schonberger, dean of students. "It allows an individual to quickly learn who drivers and riders are, as well as who they know, which adds credibility and comfort. The social networking element answers questions about safety." All USI students, faculty, and staff can access the USI Zimride system for free at zimride.usi.edu. You must use your usi.edu email address to sign up. You can post as a rider, driver, or both. You may specify whether you're a smoker or non-smoker, indicate your favorite type of music, etc. You can ask for a fee in exchange for picking up riders, negotiate a price, or charge nothing at all. You can pick up one person or as many will fit in your car. You may ride to work with one colleague and home with another. You may elect only to ride with coworkers. Students can choose only to rideshare with other students. Zimride will suggest possible matches for your ride, but it's up to you to make arrangements. View a video tutorial on how to use Zimride at zimride.usi.edu/help. Michael Truitt, security staff sergeant, said Zimride will help address parking issues the University may face in the future. "Eventually we won't have a surplus of parking, as enrollment increases and more people come to campus for outside activities during scheduled class hours. Purely from a parking standpoint, Zimride may make more spaces available closer to campus buildings." Truitt said even if you don't use Zimride for your daily commute, it may be useful for one-time trips or emergencies. "If nothing else, you can access the system if there's a time when you don't have access to your own car. It also gives someone else an opportunity to contact you if they are in the same position. Even if it's an occasional use, it will come in handy." Zimride is the largest online social rideshare community in North America with over 350,000 users and has implemented private rideshare communities for over 50 of the nation's leading universities and companies including Stanford, UCLA, University of Michigan, Cornell University, and Wal-Mart. |
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