Ride Share program sees more users as gas prices rise

YOUNGSTOWN — A Northeast Ohio carpooling matching program saw a 6.5 percent increase in users matching with fellow travelers since Oct. 1.

“That kind of coincides with the increase in gas prices,” said Kathy Zook, Ohio Ride Share coordinator with Eastgate Regional Council of Governments.

Zook said that the Ride Share program in Cleveland recently ran newspaper advertisements promoting the program and that may have contributed to the spike in people registering for the program. Ohio Ride Share covers 13 Northeast Ohio counties including Mahoning, Trumbull and Ashtabula.

There’s no data available on whether there’s been an increase in the number of Mahoning Valley carpoolers.

Ride Share started in the early 1990s but launched on the Internet last December.

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