Finding a car buddy, post-Rideshare Week

So you may've missed this, but Rideshare Week ended yesterday. But rue not bygone times -- every week's a good week for ridesharing, unless you're already getting to work by bus, train, bike, or on foot. To make it easier for you, I checked out some rideshare web apps -- all with lots of little kinks. Must ridesharing be so difficult? What I found:

First up: Ride Amigos, chock full of webby annoyances. I thought I'd try and find a carpool partner for the trek from Santa Monica to USC, but I couldn't search by addy or zip. Instead, I had to pick out the areas of LA I was coming from and going to, then pick again from a list of neighborhoods from within that area. But the real problem came when I couldn't for the life of me figure out what area I could select to get to USC. In fact, I couldn't even find a listing for downtown LA! Finally, I just tried entering a few random destinations -- and got this message every time: "We cant believe no one has posted that ride yet. Why dont you be the first!"

Nah. So I went to eRideShare. This app too had its kinks -- I entered my zip in the box  on the homepage -- to find out I was supposed to enter the destination zip. Once I figured that out, I actually found someone going from Santa Monica to the USC are! Unfortunately, this earlybird noted: "Must arrive by 7:30 AM," which sounded like torture. My search also turned up a  half dozen fellow Santa Monica residents looking to carpool downtown, which made me wonder 1) why these people haven't hooked up with each other and 2) why they don't just take the Big Blue Bus 10, which shoots down the 10 freeway to arrive downtown in under 30 mins.

Finally I tried Metro's own CommuteSmart. Getting to the rideshare page alone took 3 clicks and opened as many different windows -- and then I had to go through a whole registration process before I could even do a search! But register I did, to find no one else was going my way -- though again, 6 of my neighbors were looking for someone to share their commute downtown.... After that, I deleted my registration -- a surprisingly easy 2-click process....

So -- I guess the lesson here is that if you work downtown, at least try checking out eRideShare and CommuteSmart. Setting up a carpool can be a bit of a pain, but once set up, you'll be saving gas for a good long time.

Those of you who already carpool -- I wanna know: How did you set it up? Through work? With neighbors? Or did one of the apps above actually work for you?

Image courtesy of Metro

Comments

[James Bean]

Hey Siel,

When I lived in Santa Monica and worked downtown I always took the BBB#10 as you mention.

To get to USC get off the #10 at 7th and Figueroa, walk one block east to Flower and catch the "F" DASH at the north west corner of Flower and 7th going south. It's last stops before tunring around and going back to Downtown L.A. are at various locations at USC campus

The DASH costs $0.25, or free if you have any kind of bus pass, or transfer.

The "F" DASH runs 6:30am to 6:30pm weekdays, and 10:00am to 5pm on weekends.

[Siel]

Hey James -- This is exactly how I get to campus :) I'm v. happy with the route (although I'd be happier if the Expo line was built out and I could take that) -- I was just trying out the rideshare thing as an experiment. The #10 rocks!

[James]

I love the BBB #10.

I wish it ran later so I could spend more time at the SM Pier, and help my friends out at Arlington West later on weekends.

ITA on the expo line.

Since The Governator, and Sacramento has misappropriated the gasoline tax that we voted for, which was supposed to fund new mass transit projects, who knows if or when we'll ever have an Expo Line.

AAARRRGGG!

It makes me angry!

[Armadillo by morning (up from San Antone)]

My car does run after the BBB#10 has gone home to bed for the night.
And, it often does run early in the morning before the BBB#10 gets out
of bed. My car's schedule fits my schedule, just fine.

[cochon.name]

armadilla, i am so glad to hear that about your car. my bicycle runs 24 hours a day too. and i don't pay a penny. the best part is, with all the exercise i get, i can eat a meal with texas sized portions and not become a fatso.

[Siel]

James -- It's not so bad -- At least expo's like Metro's top priority right now. It has a v. good chance of being pushed through, esp. now with so much support. I'll see you at the next information meetings, perhaps?