The Ridester Blog

Ridester is coming to facebook!

2007-09-27T12:21:00.000-05:00

With all the craze surrounding facebook, we got a little jealous and thought we'd like to join in on the fun. Coming soon, Ridester will have mini-application on facebook where you can share your journeys with friends and see where other facebook users are going!

Stay tuned...

FREE Roadside Assistance

2007-03-15T21:54:00.000-05:00

We're pleased to announce that all rides shared through Ridester.com now get FREE roadside assistance. The service is offered in partnership with the Better World Club - a leading provider earth-friendly roadside assistance in all 50 states.

George Bush's State of the Union Adress - a 20% reduction in gas consumption?

2007-01-23T19:03:00.000-06:00

In his latest State of the Union Address, George Bush laid out his goal for a 20% reduction in gas consumption over the next decade. He talked about the urgency of alternative energy sources such as ethanol and setting higher fuel efficiency standards. Sadly, he neglected to mention the huge role you and I can play.

Our daily habits, whether its carpooling to work or supporting 'green' companies, all have an impact. Services like ZipCar make reserving a car for occasional needs (instead of owning one) as hassle-free as renting a day-locker at the gym, and companies like Better World Club offer full-featured roadside assistance without the anti-environmental lobbying of AAA. These companies and others like them reflect a growing breed of corporate consciousness that all of us, as consumers, have the ability to empower.

Ridesharing Thoughts..

2007-01-05T23:39:00.000-06:00

As the Ridester community grows, something significant is happening - ridesharing is starting to achieve adoption beyond a niche population. Day by day, it's gradually moving to mainstream. I remember the dawn of dating-sites when the general consensus was that online romance was for lunatics. Well things change - it's ok to find love online. With Ridester - the paradigm is changing too. While craigslist is great for the casual and chaotic, and achieves a vibrant critical mass within its audience, it fails to provide the ingredients for a truly widespread rideshare marketplace as Ridester does. I've talked to many of the new members on Ridester and am amazed at the mainstream demographic that are opening up to ridesharing now that Ridester makes it sensible with feedback-ratings, a payment system, personal profiles, smart route matching, and effective notifications.

New Ridester Review

2006-12-09T15:42:00.000-06:00

Lifehacker.com had a great review about Ridester on Friday. We're pleased to see more people across America discovering the value of our unique service. However, with something so new and different, there are inevitably new questions and occasional confusion. One of the review's comments asked , "...isn't this comparable to being a gypsy cab? isn't that illegal?..."

The answer is no. Ridester.com is not a gypsy cab service in any way.
According to Merriam Webster, a gypsy cab is "a taxicab licensed only to answer calls." In other words, someone says, "Hey there, I need a ride from A to B and I'll pay you X dollars to take me. The driver is then a 'gypsy cab.'

Ridester doesn't allow drivers to 'answer calls'. Quite the contrary, drivers must list trips in advance, and can only receive requests from riders who need to travel along the routes of those listed trips. This is known as 'ridesharing', not 'gypsy cabbing'. Shared transportation is generally defined as "ridesharing" if the intent of the trip is personal and the driver is offering rides to defray travel costs - that is exactly how Ridester works.

With thousands of miles of highways moving millions of people all over the place, we're proud to offer the first service that provides a passenger marketplace for sharing road trip costs anywhere in America (and eventually Canada).

2006-12-04T23:55:00.000-06:00

November was an exciting and eventful month for Ridester - the Greyhound bus alternative. We welcomed our 10,000th member and appeared in US News and Time Magazine.

We also listened to your thoughts and responded with some cool new features. Below are a few things you'll notice next time you visit.

1. 30% site speed increase.

2. Improved payment and price flexibility.

3. An even easier interface for requesting rides.

4. A messaging system to anonymously communicate before committing.

Four months into our Beta, we're proud of what you have helped us achieve. We're also deeply thankful for the support from our growing community.

And as always, if you'd like to share a few tips or ideas, we're slaves to your suggestions!

Sincerely,

Ridester Team

Ridester in Time Magazine

2006-11-20T23:01:00.000-06:00

Ridester will be recognized in the November 27th release of Time Magazine.

Nominated as cool site of the day!

2006-11-15T05:52:00.000-06:00

Ridester.com has been nominated as cool site of the day for November 15th! Here at Ridester, we happen to think we're the cool site of everyday, but that's besides the point.

Ridester Status Update

2006-11-02T20:20:00.000-06:00

Ridester is growing at a steady pace and our team would like to thank all of our early adopters!

We're planning on adding an internal messaging system for riders and drivers to ask each other questions. For full disclosure, We've also discovered (well actually, users found them) two very minor bugs we are fixing tonight.

The age is displayed improperly for Drivers 55 and over.
There are occasional issues with riders leaving feedback for drivers.

Thanks for your support!

Ridester Team

Browse by State

2006-10-20T03:04:00.000-05:00

We've added the ability to browse by state. Enjoy.

We're Expanding!

2006-10-07T16:56:00.000-05:00

We've completed our first round of Beta bug fixes, and are unveiling our service in more regions. You'll find great new features come out in the coming weeks including roadside repair reimbursement and "how to" pages to help walk you through the Ridester process.

RSS Feed

2006-10-01T15:11:00.000-05:00

check out our blog RSS feed.

Weekend Overhaul

2006-09-30T09:11:00.001-05:00

We're currently updating our site with various new features. We've added PayPal as an option, and integrated new route processing algorithms to give riders the ability to find drivers offering rides through, even if not to, the riders' destinations. On the backend, we've added a new testing server to improve stability and minimize downtime. We hope to get the updates ready sometime this weekend.

Ridester Team.

Welcome to our Blog

2006-09-28T10:27:00.000-05:00

Hello, and welcome to the blog for Ridester - the new way to travel. Here we'll reveal what's going on behind our doors and give you a chance to chime in.

Our recently unveiled Beta has generated all kinds of buzz. ABC News affiliate KVUE News featured us as seen here >>>

and theAustin Business Journal, among others, have covered our story. We've also seen great energy from the internet community with thousands of people joining Ridester in our first month.

As we continue to promote Ridester's Beta, we're listening closely to what you have to say. We're streamlining the site, fixing beta bugs as soon as we find them, and even adding cool new features based on your feedback. If you're an early adopter, we can't thank you enough for helping us along.

If you're new to this Ridester thing, check us out - as always, registration is FREE.

What is Ridester?

Ridester is a new online marketplace where people can buy or sell rides within a feedback rated community of travelers. By creating a marketplace for passenger space, we've empowered anyone to get anywhere for less.

Riders - Say you're in need of a ride from one city to another (ie - you don't a car, the car's the shop, or you're just tired of driving) simply go to Ridester, type in your trip itinerary and hit the "go" button. Ridester will instantly locate drivers who are leaving near where you're at, and going to or through where you need to go. Our automated system makes the process of sharing your journey simple, fast, and reliable. Instead of having to comb through a rideshare bulletin board where people are traveling on random routes scattered all over the place, with Ridester you simply register, run an automated search, and you're on your way. The feedback system works like eBay's, allowing the community to leave positive, negative, or neutral feedback for other members to benefit from.

Drivers - If you'd like to cover your gas/vehicle costs on a long drive or road trip, simply punch in your departure and arrival locations, set an asking price, and specify travel specifics such as whether you're a smoker or non-smoker, male or female, age, and your car cleanliness. Ridester will instantly notify you by email or optional text message when a rider is interested in traveling along your route. If you approve a rider, he or she receives your contact information, but only after paying your driver's fee! Once the trip is complete, you'll get the payment code from the rider, submit it to Ridester, and we'll mail you a check. It's that easy.