Cal Poly students create digital carpool marketplace

The Cal Poly Facebook Rideshare group was created in 2011 by students looking to travel home for the holidays. However, its disordered posts can be difficult and time-consuming for users to navigate. 

A team of Cal Poly students aims to fix these issues by launching a student-focused carpooling marketplace. Ryde Carpool was founded by experience industry management senior and CEO Johnny Morris, computer science sophomore and Chief Technology Officer Joshua Wong and computer science senior Emily Gavrilenko. 

“We’re building something [students] can use and something they can get true value from. They don’t have to worry about how they’re going to get home for the holidays,” Morris said. “If they want to visit their friend at a college next door and surprise them, they can do that on any given weekend. That’s what we’re enabling – more transportation and more mobility solutions for students and within their budget.”

Ryde Carpool will allow students to dictate where they go, who they go with and for how much. 

“We see ourselves being part of the long distance space as well as potentially even close distance,” Wong said. “For example, if students want to go and get groceries they just look for a ride within that day or that weekend.”

The team launched its website in March where riders and drivers are able to create posts and search for rides using filters that allow them to specify the starting point, destination, date and number of seats available for the ride. 

“I think we have an amazing team,” Gavrilenko says. “It’s been really fun to work with like-minded individuals that really see this as a problem we can solve.”

More information and updates on the product can also be found on Instagram, LinkedIn and Twitter.