New program offers commuters ride alternatives, incentives

New program offers commuters ride alternatives, incentives

BY B.J. ALMOND
Rice News staff

Rice staff and faculty members can now earn points similar to frequent flyer miles for sharing rides to and from work — and without joining a long-term carpool.

Rice is participating in the NuRide Network, a national for-profit effort to reduce traffic and pollution by rewarding employees for commuting together. The network awards points to drivers and riders for each trip, and the points can be used to earn gift cards, gift certificates or other rewards from businesses that sponsor NuRide, such as Green Mountain Coffee Roasters and Theatre Under the Stars.

The network combines features from eBay and online airline reservations. Employees use their Rice e-mail address to join the network, create a user name and set their travel criteria, such as a preference for nonsmokers and a particular gender. Once they’re in the system, they can list their date, departure and return times and destination and search for other drivers/riders going the same way at the same time.

If they find a matching trip and join it, both drivers and riders are notified via an e-mail from NuRide. Because participants get to rate the people they ride or drive with — much like buyers and sellers on eBay leave feedback for each other — users can check out someone’s rating before agreeing to share a ride with them.

The network never gives out participants’ home addresses; first-timers are encouraged to meet at a park-and-ride lot or some other location and then share home addresses afterward if they wish to continue riding together.

Points, or NuRide miles, are awarded on the basis of number of trips and number of NuRiders in the car, not the distance traveled. Two NuRiders in the car receive 100 points for a trip, such as going from home to work. Three NuRiders qualify for 125 points, and four or more qualify for 150 points per trip. Riding with someone new earns 150 bonus points for each NuRider in the car. The return trip home can also qualify for points, but anything above two trips per day is not eligible for points. Current vanpool riders and traditional carpoolers can earn NuRide miles also.

NuRide does not reimburse drivers for gas.

NuRiders can log on to their account to see how many points they have accumulated and the awards they are eligible for. Their account will also show the amount of gas they did not use and the amount of auto emissions they did not add to the air by not driving their car on the days they shared rides.

Rice employees are not limited to sharing rides with just other Rice employees to earn NuRide points. They can hook up with any of the more than 5,000 NuRiders in the Houston area, including more than 1,000 commuting to the Texas Medical Center. Travels other than to and from work can count toward points, but the limit is still two confirmed trips per day.

“We think this program has the potential to be very popular with Rice employees,” said Eugen Radulescu, director of administrative services. “They can share rides with friends or meet new people, and in addition to helping reduce traffic congestion and air pollution, they get rewarded with gifts.”

To help acquaint Rice employees about this new program, NuRide is hosting one-hour “Lunch and Learn” sessions in Farnsworth Pavilion in the Rice Memorial Center at 11 a.m., noon and 1 p.m. Nov. 9. Lunch is free but reservations must be made online at <http://info.nuride.com/rice>.
For more information or to enroll in the NuRide Network, visit <www.nuride.com>.

NuRide is supported by the Houston-Galveston Area Council, the Texas Department of Transportation, the Federal Highway Administration and the Federal Transit Administration.