Zimride is the way to go

If you're like us and can't stand the driving and parking situation at UCF then you're in luck.

Zimride is an online social rideshare community which has already been implemented at other universities such as Stanford, University of Michigan, UCLA and Cornell.

Faculty and students will be able to create a profile that can be linked to their Facebook accounts.

A person's profile would have his or her schedule and the site would then match that schedule to someone else's.

From there, the carpooling begins.

We can't help but feel this is a great initiative taken on by the Student Government Association.

Anything that will alleviate the insane parking situation is fine by us.

With every student who decides to use the service and begins carpooling to class, one more parking space opens up.

If the site does pan out as expected, we're looking forward to seeing so many beautiful, empty spaces.

What makes us even more ecstatic about the new service is that it is a green initiative.

There are so many students and groups and campus that are passionate about the state of the environment, particularly in light of the current oil spill in the Gulf.

The partnership with Zimride is another action UCF is taking to show that we can become a greener campus.

How is Zimride good for the Earth you ask?

It's simple.

Fewer cars on the road equals less CO2 in the air.

The website will even monitor speed limits and routes to tally how much CO2 users are emitting.

Did we mention this service is capable of both saving you and making you money?

If you switch off carpooling every week with someone whose profile matched yours, then you're each saving almost a weeks worth of gas.

On the site, you can also offer one-time rides at a small cost — be it $10 or a cup of coffee.

Although, we hope you wouldn't pimp your ride out too much.

After all, these are your fellow students in need of a ride here.

But to each their own.

Zimride will cost SGA $4,500 a year and Parking and Transportation Services will pay the rest.

A small price for the benefits Zimride offers.

SGA is keeping our safety in mind.

We know you were always told by your mother not to get in the car with strangers, so we understand how this whole system may seem strange at first, especially if you're about to embark on a four-hour journey back to your home town with a complete stranger.

But according to SGA Vice President Taylor Lochrane, there have been few abuses of the system.

Other universities haven't reported any major concerns.

But we still urge you to use common sense.

Meet your future carpooling buddies first in a public area and take heed to the user comments on other's profiles.

We like the fact that Zimride is embracing carpooling as an interactive social activity.

Our hopes are that it proves to be successful by freeing up some parking spaces and by making life easier for students who either don't have cars or who want to save money.

Oh, and create empty parking spaces.

Did we say that already? Yeah, we're pretty excited about it.

All in all, a sustainable, cost-efficient practice that helps students get around is fine by us.

Good work, SGA.