Zimride is having a growth spurt, turning to the holidays to launch a new route between San Francisco and Lake Tahoe.  Opening to public starting Thanksgiving Day, Zimride will give a free tank of gas up to $40 to the first 500 drivers who have successfully booked a ride through this route.  This promotion is good through the end of the year.

Because Zimride is a ride-sharing company, it allows drivers to sell their unoccupied car seats to passengers who need a ride along specific routes, just like its new route from San Franciso going to Lake Tahoe.   Zimride’s goal is not just to facilitate monetary transactions and promote business to individuals, but as well as to strengthen their social connections.

“We’ve been looking forward to opening the Lake Tahoe route all Fall, because we know it will be a popular destination for our Bay Area users–from college students to weekend travelers, skiers to snowboarders,” says Logan Green, co-founder and CEO of Zimride.

“Tahoe has over 3 million visitors every year, and over 20% of the people headed to the South Shore come from the Bay Area (1). Even more important, nearly 80% of North Shore visitors arrive by car (2). So that’s a lot of potential for Zimriders to save money and gas, while making friends. And even better, we’re paying for their drive!”

Moreover, early this month, it was announced that Facebook will soon launch a new way to connect, with an upcoming partnership with Zimride.

Helping Mother Earth

Aside from Zimride being able to save your travel costs and help you make new friends, this idea from John Zimmer and Logan Green is actually helping Mother Earth.  Because travelers can book their travel using Zimride’s online booking system, the use of gas for vehicle will be lessen because fewer cars will only be used to travel.   And we all know how cars through carbon dioxide emissions contribute to pollution.  Through technology, Zimride’s ride-sharing was a success that has led to their victory in winning last year’s Opportunity Green environmental business conference.

Security Issues

Since it is very easy to just book a ride using Zimride’s booking system, the company pays close attention to its security.   Via Facebook, ridesharing partners are able to view each other’s profile information.  As an added security for colleges and large corporations, Zimride is requiring ridesharing between people from the same school or business.

In addition, as a security feature, the online system of the company allows posting of reviews with regards to the past trips so that both the driver and the passenger’s feedback are readily accessible.