Whether or not you have a car, sharing rides is becoming easier and easier thanks to a little Zip and Zim. The world’s largest carsharing service Zipcar and leading online social rideshare network Zimride have recently partnered to give students at Stanford an affordable way to get around. Zipcar is known for parking convenient when-you-need-‘em vehicles for non-car owners to use on demand while Zimride connects riders using the Facebook platform.
The Lazy Environmentalist’s Margaret caught up with Zimride CFO John Zimmer for a little car talk:
1. So your service hooks ride sharers up with one another, even if they might not be friends. How can you be sure you won’t have to share the car with a psycho?
We made Zimride so that friends, classmates and coworkers could share the ride. We knew that trust was the key element to building a successful system, so we build the service social profiles, facebook integration and anonymous feedback. Our focus is on leveraging communities that already exist such as universities, colleges and companies.
2. Who is the kookiest person you’ve shared a car with?
I would have to say you Margaret. Logan has a great story of carpooling with politician, Dennis Kucinich. He needed a ride home from a Presidential campaign stop.
3. Josh just finished his second book, The Lazy Environmentalist on a Budget. Like most folks, we’re all about saving money. Have you run the numbers on exactly how much money can be saved by sharing rides?
Yes and it pretty incredible. In total vehicle operating costs, zimriders can save $0.25 every mile they carpool. This can result in $100’s of dollars each month in savings and be a great way to reduce individual costs in these tough economic times.
4. Zipcar, eh? They are a pretty big deal. How did they find out about you and does it have to do with the ease of co-branding (zip/zim zip/zim, etc?)
We are very excited about the partnership with Zipcar. When starting Zimride, we looked up to Zipcar as they had already been successful in changing people’s transportation behavior. We looked at their model and realized that it was a complementary transportation option for our uses and theirs. I reached out to their CEO, Scott Griffith. Scott is great and had already known about Zimride and was very interested in meeting up to discuss ways in which our models could mutually benefit each of our users.
5. Are you working on any sort of iPhone application? How about any other cell phone collaborations?
We think that mobile applications definitely have a strong and favorable future for the rideshare space. We have developed an API that was used by android app developer Ecorio. An iPhone app is in our plans but likely not for a little while.
6. Is there a polite way to tell someone to stop singing along with the radio, American Idol style? Suppose it’s their car and you’re hitching a ride?
It’s best to discuss music and other habits before getting into the car (these are elements in our profile). To be completely honest I can sometimes be the singer. Logan once called me and told me to “save it for the choir.” Other option is to do your best Simon Cowell imitation, “that is self-indulgent rubbish” …that “joke” will usually get them to stop.
