Review: RideSearch.com

I was recently asked to do a review of RideSearch.com.

RideSearch is a commuter connection site that provides information on carpooling in your area with the goal to provide a safe secure carpool experience with the added benefit of saving you gas while also reducing harmful car emissions and automobile wear and tear.

The site is well organized and simply designed. Links are labeled intuitively and the navigation is very accessible.

The Profile/Account areas are redundant and should be combined into one area. The Account page only allows you to update your email address and the Profile allows you to update your home and destination address, hours of work, etc. They also should be available within one click from any page but are currently under the Resources link on the top navigation bar, which I found a bit unintuitive.

The registration process is easy, although the data validation of required fields is easy to circumvent and the flow of input is also somewhat subpar. Also, most sites that validate addresses provide a list of possible options when unable to find an exact match, but I did not find that here.

They provide a savings calculator that allows you to estimate the amount of savings you can expect by carpooling, tips for setting up a successful carpool, and resources for “spreading the word”.

RideSearch.com was launched on January 1, 2008, and could be an extremely useful site once the word gets out and more people sign up, but for now, I did a quick search for carpoolers in my area and it did not find any results (I expanded my search to the maximum radius of 25 miles from the start address and from the destination address).

I wasn’t quite sure what to make of the Products link (which links to cafepress.com). As nice as a site like this could be, I can’t think of anybody who would wear any clothing with RideSearch.com as a logo.

*This review was sponsored by Rideshare.com.