With the state of our global warming and air pollution, it seems that the more we can do to reduce our impact on the environment, the better. One of the ways that we can do this is through carpooling. A lot of people carpool with coworkers or people they go to school with, but some choose complete strangers. Why would anyone do this you ask? Well, to reduce their carbon footprint, by using Pickuppal.com.

Pickuppal.com works in two ways. If you want a ride somewhere, you post where you want to be picked up from and where you want to go, as well as what day and time you need to be there. The site then matches you up with someone who is going in your direction. The people going in your direction also place a bid to drive you, and you the passenger take the lowest bid, because that is what you pay the driver. The driver gets the money, but does have to pay pickuppal.com 7% of the fee using PayPal.

If someone wants to be a driver, they simply post different destinations they will be traveling throughout the week, and then wait and see if pickuppal.com matches them with a passenger who needs to be going in their direction. The driver decides how much they wish to charge the passenger, and the passenger can decide whether or not it is a reasonable price and make their carpool decision based on that.

One factor that is of major concern is safety. The first red flag is accepting a ride with someone that you have never met before. The website suggests e-mailing back and forth with a potential driver/passenger to get to know them, but how much could you really get to know a person through e-mail? People know what to say and when to say it enough to sway you to the back of the car and then shank you.

There is the option of meeting up with someone in a public place to get to know them, but that seems to take away from the convenience that the sight offers. It seems like a great idea, but we’ll see how great it is once headlines blare “Woman raped and murdered in back of own car” and the victim is someone using pickuppal.

Plus, it seems a little bothersome to have to make the effort to get to know someone through a series of dates in a public place to see if they are sane enough to transport you, the precious cargo. Why not just align your schedule with a friend or loved one to do your part in reducing your carbon foot print? At least this way, you can ride for free.

Another problem is that it seems that there aren’t a lot of drivers or passengers in the Sacramento area, so it might not be beneficial for a Sacramento State student (although the website didn’t start until January of this year). For a route from Roseville to Sac State placed on Monday, there have yet to be any pick-up requests.