RidePenguin – Share the Ride, Split the Cab, Easy
Sharing cab fare is as old as the concept of taxi cabs themselves. Now, well, there’s an app for that.
RidePenguin.com is a mobile app site that works from any Web-enabled phone or computer. With it, you can put in your flight information (landing or takeoff times) or the times you want to be to or leave the airport and find other fellow travelers in the area who are looking to share a cab. Both of you can meet up, book a cab, and share the ride easily.
The app is currently beta testing at Seattle-Tacoma (SeaTac) Airport and McCarran Airport in Las Vegas, but the app’s developers promise a national and then international rollout soon. The app’s developers, Jason Prado and Ben Eidelson, are into mobile development for their company everythingIsTheBest.
The app is very simple to use. Just start by selecting the “To the Airport” or “From the Airport” buttons, enter a screen name for yourself, enter your arrival time, select a origination or traveling-to point, and the app will find you’re ride.
So if you’re downtown and headed for SeaTac, you can select the airport, leaving from Downtown (or enter an address/place), and say when you’re doing so (5 minutes, tomorrow morning, whatever). A match will be found or others who’re looking to go a similar route will be alerted and the two are put together on the site. The originator (first one to enter information) receives the alerts, but either person is free to enter their own phone number to the other for easier communication.
The app is a very cool idea for both the cost-conscious and environmentally-conscious traveler.
