by Karina Guzzi
Daily Lobo
Students who want company on a road trip can find carpool mates on RideCheck.com.
"The site is for students who want to go from anywhere in North America to anywhere in North America," said Clyde Mitchell, founder of RideCheck.com. "It is a glorified classifieds."
Students can post trips on the site, and students who need rides can search them.
Mitchell said the difference between accepting a ride from a newspaper classifieds section and going through his Web site is that RideCheck.com offers more security.
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This is a concern, especially for women, Mitchell said.
Mitchell said that at the time of registration, travelers need to enter their driver's license and student ID numbers. The Web site encourages travelers to meet at a public place before leaving for the trip to see each other's driver's license and to take pictures of each other to give to their friends and family.
"I don't think criminals would go near this site," Mitchell said. "There's just too much witnessing going on."
Student Annette Herrera said she might use the site because she doesn't like driving, but she would need to make sure it was safe to carpool.
"If I could be sure that I wouldn't be in danger, I'd use it," she said.
Mitchell said good reasons to use the site include sharing costs, the convenience of not depending on bus, train or airport schedules, the comfort of traveling in a car and the possibility of developing friendships.
Student Ehvedyah Yisrael agrees.
"You share the cost," Yisrael said. "You have company. For those who don't have a car or don't like to fly, it would be convenient."
Overall, Mitchell said sharing costs is the best reason to use the site. He said when he was in college, 10 percent to 20 percent of college students used a ride board - a paper version of the Web site with the information about travelers pinned on a map of the United States.
He said if UNM had 20,000 students that would mean 2,000 trips to 4,000 trips per year.
"Let's say they go 600 miles per car times 15 percent using it three times a year - that is 90,000 gallons of gas saved," he said. "At $2 a gallon, that's $180,000 of savings."
Student Max Cordova agrees sharing costs is an attraction of the site.
"My friends don't have a lot (of money) to go to places," Cordova said. "It would be better if we could split the cost."
The Web site allows users to rate one another. If one of the parties doesn't show up after agreeing to share a ride, they would receive bad ratings. A poorly rated driver can be removed from the site.
The Web site was launched early this month. Not many rides are posted at this time, but Mitchell said he expects the postings to grow.
"We can handle 100,000 queries a day," Mitchell said.
Registration on the site is free. Mitchell said he intends to start charging a small fee, probably under $5, in a few months - after the site gets more postings.
The site is primarily for college students and faculty but can be used by anyone.
