Whether you want to catch extra sleep on the ride to school, find a buddy to keep you company during a long drive home or save gas on a road trip to a Gators game, GreenRide has the answer.
GreenRide, a UF online ride-matching program that promotes carpooling for environmental and economic reasons, is opening its doors to UF students after its first successful year with faculty and staff.
Ron Fuller, assistant director of UF Transportation and Parking Services, said the program aims to make on-campus parking easier and reduce gas emissions by organizing carpools.
"Every single occupant car we can get off the road is to everybody's benefit," Fuller said.
He said the site was only open to faculty and staff last year because it was designed to work with UF's carpooling program, which students aren't eligible for.
But now the site has been updated to accommodate students, and registration is free, he said.
After registering on the GreenRide Web site, users post their starting point, final destination and other information, such as if they prefer to ride with a non-smoker and if they have a car.
The site displays a map showing other users with similar preferences along the route and within a quarter-mile to half-mile radius of the starting location.
Fuller said students could use the site to find rides to class, back to their hometowns or other long-distance locations.
He emphasized that all of this occurs without revealing a user's personal information, besides a first name and the provided starting location, which doesn't have to be a home address.
Once users find a match, they can contact that person through the site and decide later whether they want to arrange a ride or not.
Fuller said there are about 500 faculty and staff members and about 10 to 15 students registered.
Natalie Andrietta, a UF sociology senior, said she would use the ride-matching service for getting to classes, because it would most likely be faster than taking a bus or driving herself.
"I've tried to find parking on campus before," Andrietta said. "It's not fun."
But she said she probably wouldn't use the program to find a ride home to Miami. It would be awkward to spend five hours in a car with someone she didn't know, she explained.
Fuller said he hopes to encourage participation with monthly prize drawings and giveaways.
He hopes to offer an autographed Urban Meyer football giveaway later this semester, he added.
If every UF student - or even just 5,000 - signed up for GreenRide, it would make a huge difference in gas expenditures and impact on the environment, he said.
