A community that rides together stays together
To own a car or not to own a car? That is the question in cities like Boston and Cambridge. Whether ’tis nobler in the winter to suffer the shoveling and parking wars after snowstorms or to rent a Zipcar just to fetch groceries makes for a seemingly lose-lose proposition. But as gas prices rise, and traffic remains congested, two new start-ups are looking to give Harvard’s weary travelers more options. Zimride and RelayRides have partnered with the University’s CommuterChoice Program in hopes of making community-based car sharing easier. Zimride, a social networking site, allows drivers and passengers to post their ride times — dates for a one-time trip to New York, for example, or their weekday commuting schedules — so they can pair up for carpools. RelayRides offers more straightforward financial transactions: Car owners can register their cars, set hourly rates and hours of availability for their vehicles, and rent them out...