Innovation

Ryde Carpool is a community-based travel marketplace specifically designed for college students in California. The idea originated at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo which has historically utilized a Facebook group to operate. After stumbling upon the Facebook Group and then using it himself, Johnny Morris became acutely aware of just how unorganized the system was. Morris, a now Cal Poly San Luis Obispo Alumni, came up with the idea to streamline the existing software. After years of brainstorming, in 2022 he finally recruited his two co-founders, Emily Gavrilenko and Josh Wong, to bring his vision to life. Their creation, Ryde Carpool solves the time and cost-related issues using alternative modes of transportation such as buses and trains, or other widely used ride-share services. This idea came from a need to simplify long-distance travel for college students that current methods were not able to satisfy. The current bus and train systems were not cost-effective, nor time-efficient and popular ride-share services did not offer the extensive radius for an affordable price that students desired.

Aside from its monetary and time benefits to students, using the Ryde Carpool app has environmental benefits that may not be at the forefront of students' minds, but are equally as important. The company’s services mainly promote progress toward SDG #13- Climate Action. Carpooling can be an effective way to reduce atmospheric pollution and other causes of climate change. According to the UN, the transportation sector will play one of the most important roles in achieving the reduction of global warming since roughly “a quarter of energy-related global greenhouse gas emissions come from transport and that these emissions are projected to grow substantially in the years to come.” However, carpooling is an important solution because it is a type of sustainable transport. Carpooling decreases energy consumption and vehicle emissions from gasoline, mainly carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas and a key contributor to global warming.

The Johannesburg Plan of Implementation (JPOI) demonstrated the importance of sustainable transport in the sustainable development of “infrastructure, public transportation systems, goods delivery networks, affordability, efficiency and convenience of transportation, as well as improving urban air quality and health, and reducing greenhouse gas emissions.” Thus, carpooling also supports SDGs #3, #7, #9, and #11. Pertaining to SDG #11 - Sustainable Cities and Communities, one of the benefits of how Ryde Carpool sustains cities and communities is that it reduces the carbon footprint since it reduces the number of automobiles on the road through sharing rides to different destinations. This reduces the energy consumption and emissions that are being polluted into our ecosystem. SDGs #3 - Good Health and Well-Being, #7 - Clean Energy, and #9 - Industry, Innovation & Infrastructure, are simultaneously advanced since sustainable transport is a crucial aspect in achieving these goals. Furthermore, sustainable transport reduces the negative impacts associated with urban mobility by providing environmentally friendly modes of transportation.

Inspiration

As a freshman at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, Johnny needed a way to get home for Thanksgiving. The trip “was the first trip [he] had to get back, and [he] ended up taking the Amtrak, which cost [him] seventy-five bucks one way, and took nine hours, because it was delayed”. Following this experience, he was determined to find a better way to travel home to the Bay Area. Jonny then found the University’s existing Facebook rideshare group and used it “over 40 times and loved some things about it”.

The things he loved about it were that it was about half to a third of the price of using the Amtrak or Flix Bus but it was so unorganized which made it difficult to navigate. When browsing and looking for rides he was often shown people traveling in the opposite direction, looking at other riders instead of the drivers he was searching for, or being shown old posts with trips that had already passed. So after about three years of compilation, Johnny realized “this is what software is made for. It's made to organize data. Why don't I try and put together a team of people… I started finding my teammates, and then the rest has been history”.

Overall impact

In the short term, Ryde Carpool will reduce the number of cars on the road dramatically around the Cal Poly SLO campus. This will decrease the total carbon emissions in the surrounding area. Along with the environmental impact, there will be less traffic in high-concentration areas both around and on the campus. Cal Poly Students have a new affordable and climate-conscious method of travel from the University to their hometowns, or whatever their destination in California may be. Not only will the students and faculty benefit, but the surrounding neighbors will deal with less air pollution and overall fewer cars on the road.

In the long term effects of Ryde have not been seen yet because it is just a start-up company. Interest in the Ryde Carpool has been good thus far so it can be predicted that in the future it could play a significant role in all Cal State schools due to their aggressive carbon emission goals along with offsetting current carbon use. The company is collecting and compiling data in order to see how much gas would have been used vs saved along with the positive impact using their service has on the environment overall. While Ryde Carpool’s main directive might not be to lessen the environmental impact of CO2 emissions, undoubtedly, the more users the app adds will equate to fewer on the road can help immensely in the battle against climate change. The company will have an impact in its direct area almost immediately, but in order for this change to have a more notable impact, it will need to expand.

Business benefit

Ryde Carpool has just piloted their payment processing system that wasn't in place for their first few drivers. Since the pilot went into place they have made their first one hundred dollars in revenue. The start-up currently has a six-member team with three co-founders (Johnny, Emily, and Josh) and three interns (two finance interns and one software engineering intern) although they previously had up to nine. Johnny stated that the reason for scaling back down: “It was not where we should have been at the time, so we’re trying to keep it a really powerful, strong, tight-knit team, and we’re killing it right now.” Ryde believes that starting small will give them a better base to grow into the large company they imagine in the future.

Related to employee well-being, drivers have expressed the impact this work has had on their lives. They feel as if they are making a difference in the world and continue to share their positive experiences with Johnny, which boosts morale and motivates drivers and riders to continue using the service.

In terms of entering new markets, expanding their product offering, and seeking investment opportunities, Johnny stated that as of now, Ryde Carpool is not quite in “an expansion phase.” Instead, they wish to focus on “proving out the business model … and technology” and deliver on the promise of excellent customer service by “matching people efficiently and effectively to the right people.” However, he mentioned plans for expansion in 2023 to other college campuses.

Social and environmental benefit

Since the launch of Ryde’s mobile app on October 3rd, Morris explained that Ryde has “already facilitated over seventy thousand miles of travel around California… There's actually some data to be crunched on that. If you take the average miles per gallon of a vehicle, you could extrapolate some data on how much gas you've actually burned, and ultimately, how much gas you've saved from being burned if each person had their own vehicle”. Although the app is still in the start-up phase and currently only operating at one college campus they already have about three hundred to four hundred students signed up in the driver or both categories, meaning rider and driver. Morris noted they “see about two-thirds to three-quarters of them actually engage as drivers”.

A carpooling app designed for college students is beneficial to the students financially. Students save money on long-distance travel, they do not have to purchase costly parking permits for their universities, and they don’t want to deal with the hassle of finding parking on campus. Ryde is also beneficial to Universities, like Cal Poly SLO for example, which are “cracking down on on-campus parking [by increasing] the price of permits every single year, because they want to ultimately decrease how many cars coming on campus, [causing] congestion”. Carpooling is also great for the environment. Most college students travel home for the holidays, especially if they are local, which is Ryde's current focal group, and a cost-effective way to get home that takes cars off the road reducing emissions is a great option for them.

Interview

John (Johnny) Morris, CEO and Co-Founder