Monday, November 26, 2007
About 400 Mahoning Valley people are registered on the carpooling site.
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.
No data is 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.
A prospective carpooler enters the system at www.OhioRideshare.com and inputs information including starting and ending addresses, when they start and finish work and the preferences for potential commuter partners.
Users don’t have to use their home address as a starting point. Anyone with a starting or destination point in one of the 13 Northeast Ohio counties may use the program. The counties are Mahoning, Trumbull, Ashtabula, Portage, Summit, Stark, Wayne, Tuscarawas, Lake, Geauga, Cuyahoga, Medina and Lorain.
Once data is entered, the program offers a list of potential matches. The prospective commuter may contact them through e-mail to determine if a shared transportation arrangement is amenable to both.
Zook estimates that about 400 Mahoning Valley travelers have registered with the site but that only about half of those participate.
All data is exchanged using e-mail addresses so personal information remains confidential.
The matches are offered immediately. Before the online launch, people had to contact the agency with their information and wait for a match. Those who don’t have a computer may still go that route by calling (330) 779-3800.
“We still have the calculator online that allows people to determine how much they’re saving,” Zook said.