<p>I’m so impressed that UA has such an enormous number of out-of-state students.</p>
<p>Is there a ride-sharing board anywhere on campus, for students to find / offer rides home during holidays? Or maybe on Facebook?</p>
<p>We live in Northern VA and it’s a lo-o-o-n-g drive! And with gas near $4 a gallon, someone to share the expense wouldn’t hurt, either.</p>
<p>There is not currently a ride sharing board at UA, but one definitely needs to be created. Currently, the key to getting rides is to see when your friends are going somewhere and ask if you can go with them.</p>
<p>FWIW, the SGA senate just tabled a bill to pay for a proposed ride-share service (zimride.com). Since they have to pay for it by next Friday, it simply isn’t going to happen in the short term.</p>
<p>I don’t see why a Bama Ride Share Facebook Group couldn’t be started. If I knew how to start a group, I would. </p>
<p>It needs a name that incorporates Alabama, Bama, Crimson or similar.</p>
<p>Alabama Crimson Ride Share???</p>
<p>Although there is not a Ride-Share program, students still manage to find rides. My son got an email from another CBH student just a week before Winter Break requesting a ride to OH. I was already scheduled to fly to BHM, where my son picked me up before driving north ten hours. We were able to accommodate the student who lives near Cincinnati. Her parents were kept updated on our location as we got close to the drop off point. It worked out just fine. We coordinated plans to pick the student up on our return trip to Tuscaloosa. I still shared the drive since I already had my airline ticket from BHM to Columbus. I also did not feel comfortable allowing a stranger driving one of our vehicles. </p>
<p>My son said that students post ride request signs on bulletin boards through out campus. Obviously, students should always have an alternate plan if a ride share is not secured.</p>
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<p>It needs a name that incorporates Alabama, Bama, Crimson or similar.</p>
<p>Alabama Crimson Ride Share??? <<<</p>
<p>Great idea! I will ask DS (he of the tech-savvy generation) if he wants to start one.</p>
<p>P.S. Edit: DS says such a service already exists on campus. ??? Guess he’ll figure it out. (Three days before Thanksgiving.)</p>
<p>I don’t think a ride-share service exists on campus.</p>
<p>If there’s a ride-share service on campus DS has never found it…
We would definitely use a FB group if it exists, will have to decide if DS is driving home (to Chicago) for Christmas, if there were one of two others who could help with the driving/gas it would make that decision much easier. Don’t know how you vet if they’re insane drivers or not…</p>
<p>Setting up a FB ride-share is simple, I just need some ‘FB friends’
who want to join (needed for set up)…</p>
<p>If a couple of Y’all can PM your FB, I’ll set it up.</p>
<p>In D’s Bama Bound materials, she did receive a flyer for zimride ("The Social Network for Ridesharing). The url on the flyer is [url=<a href=“http://zimride.ua.edu%5DZimride%5B/url”>http://zimride.ua.edu]Zimride[/url</a>]</p>
<p>Zimride requires a “@ua.edu” email address to sign up.</p>
<p>Update: After 5 minutes of playing on it - it’s not flexible enough to work.
The search is point to point, by day only, so someone driving
from UA to Toledo will not show up as a ride to Louisville for example,
even though they pass through Louisville. There is no bulletin board.</p>
<p>Seems to be use for UA commuters</p>
<p>I set up a FB account to manage a group, it is at:
[David</a> John | Facebook](<a href=“Redirecting...”>Redirecting...)</p>
<p>When I have a couple friends on that account, I will start the
‘UA Crimson Rideshare’ ? group
Although ‘Roll Tide Rideshare’ has a ring to it</p>
<p>Roll Tide Rideshare is at;
[Log</a> In | Facebook](<a href=“Roll Tide Rideshare Public Group | Facebook”>Roll Tide Rideshare Public Group | Facebook)</p>
<p>Click join group button, upper right to join.
Should be a closed group, must join to see posts, not visible to the world at large? Or open to all?</p>
<p>-7 members and counting
-Group email is: <a href="mailto:Rolltiderideshare@groups.facebook.com">Rolltiderideshare@groups.facebook.com</a>
-Set up a open FB Group " University of Alabama Crimson Tide Ride Share" that redirects to “Roll tide rideshare” so anyone searching FB can find it.</p>
<p>I’ve never found Facebook good for forum-type discussion so I don’t think it would ultimately be useful for a ride-share board.</p>
<p>And re:Zimride, it seems like a waste to outsource something like this externally. SGA and the UA administration are more than capable of setting up a board and lawyering away their liabilities.</p>
<p>If UA didn’t want to have a computer-based option, there could always be an actual ride share board in the Ferguson Center. Many colleges have bulletin boards for students to sell their textbooks and/or offer rides, so I don’t see why UA couldn’t have one.</p>
<p>^ exactly. While I am optimistic that many on here will have use for a FB-based board, especially OOS parents helping to figure out transport things, why does UA not have a simple bulletin board like most all other colleges? Seems like a no-brainer.</p>
<p>*My son said that students post ride request signs on bulletin boards through out campus. *</p>
<p>So, kids are using bulletin boards for ride-sharing, but there isn’t a central one. that may be because there isn’t just ONE place that everyone goes. Not everyone goes to the Ferg because there are other Dining Venues on campus. </p>
<p>I think a FB group can work as long as it doesn’t get cluttered with a bunch of unrelated posts. </p>
<p>If people post on the wall with stuff like…“need a ride from campus to B’ham airport on Dec 8th. Need to be at the airport by 7am. Will give $xx for gas. email me at <a href=“mailto:XXXXX@XXX.xxx”>XXXXX@XXX.xxx</a>.” Then responders can post a comment and email.</p>
<p>Maybe I should post an example post…lol</p>
<p>Did some research on Zimride
It looks like Zimride may be a good answer for rideshares.
(but may not be funded by UA)
So it’s in limbo at UA at present.</p>
<p>The details are;
Zimride is very new and growing fast, it does have a nice interface, which has been disabled for UA users -because-
Zimride is free to a University until it has 50 registered users at one campus
then it costs the university $9,500 annually (monthly payments) to keep it running.
UA has not paid the fee, so Zimride has suspended UA’s account.
This was brought up to council, and has been tabled for later…</p>
<p>[SGA</a> senate tables Zimride bill | The Crimson White](<a href=“YouA moves from Youtube – The Crimson White”>YouA moves from Youtube – The Crimson White)</p>
<p>[Zimride:</a> A Carpooling Startup That Actually Makes Money](<a href=“http://techcrunch.com/2009/03/25/zimride-a-carpooling-startup-that-actually-makes-money/]Zimride:”>Zimride: A Carpooling Startup That Actually Makes Money | TechCrunch)</p>
<p>*Zimride is free to a University until it has 50 registered users at one campus
then it costs the university $9,500 annually *</p>
<p>Gosh…with 51 users, a school has to pay 9500 annually? That’s discouraging. It’s one thing to have a graduated plan, but a flat rate after 50 users is not going to get schools to readily sign up. Even with a 1000 users, that’s 9.50 per student.</p>