The Associated Students of The University of Montana Office of Transportation Offers Free, Easy Way to Share Rides

The Associated Students of The University of Montana Office of Transportation has joined with GoLoco.org to give UM students and employees an opportunity to share the cost of getting around.

Created by the founders of ZipCar, GoLoco uses the development application feature on Facebook to give users an innovative and easy way to save money and reduce their ecological footprints.

"We feel this is a great way for students to share rides to events such as concerts, to skiing, hiking or exploring adventures, to and from the University, and for road trips," said ASUM Office of Transportation Director Nancy Wilson. "The Facebook application provides an easy way to communicate about where they want to go, update their itineraries and split the cost of gas using a convenient PayPal feature."

GoLoco users can set privacy levels for trips to locations, allowing all members of the UM network or just friends to view an itinerary.

Users can view one another’s profiles to see what hobbies and favorite locations they have in common, boosting the chance of a fun commute. They also can learn about mutual friends, who can act as references.

There are nearly 9,000 Facebook users affiliated with UM, Wilson said, making outreach and promotion easy.

"The beauty of the GoLoco application is that it basically sells itself on Facebook, giving new users the option to invite all of their friends with just a few mouse clicks," she said.

More information about how to join GoLoco is at http://www.goloco.org.

http://news.umt.edu/index.asp?sec=1&too=100&eve=8&dat=10/2/2007&npa=1830