LAKE TAHOE, Calif./Nev. – With higher parking fees and gas prices, not to mention the traffic, driving to Tahoe to ski or snowboard is more expensive than ever. Kaia Colban said she was tired of looking on Facebook and Reddit for carpools, and launched RideShareTahoe as a singular place for people to seek rideshares and carpools.
Colban used to work in the tech world, and while she says technology can sometimes contribute to loneliness, “It doesn’t have to be that way.” She founded the nonprofit ShareVita, which aims to connect people. Their first venture? ShareSkippy, a site where dog owners can connect with other dog lovers, letting “pup pals” take the canines on walks, hikes, adventures or just snuggle up with them for the day.
Skiing was another place where Colban found a big community. “One of my best friends was a guy I met while hitchhiking back home from the chairlift,” she said. “But it was challenging to find one central place to get a ride.”
Colban lives in Oakland and knows that plenty of people in the Bay Area want to come up to the mountains. “It’s a beautiful place in the summer and in the winter, but when we’re always driving up, the toll on the environment is astronomical,” she said. So, carpooling with others makes it cheaper for everyone, gets cars off the road and is better for the environment.
RideShareTahoe was just launched on Saturday and displays upcoming rides, verifies accounts through email and phone numbers, lets you choose if you’re a driver or passenger (or both) and helps filter by day of travel.
“There are things like BlaBlaCar for other countries, which we just don’t really have in the United States,” said Colban. “We’re not trying to be the next BlaBlaCar necessarily, but there’s a niche there we could fill.”
Colban currently works as the safety manager for the team and recognizes that there are always some risks with ridesharing. Still, she wanted to implement features like IP address and phone number tracking, as well as license plate storage that would deter bad actors from using the site.
While right now, the site markets itself to Bay Area skiers and snowboarders, Colban sees the potential of being able to use the site for Tahoe locals to carpool from south shore to north shore and vice versa. “I’d like it to expand to locals, to people you could pick up in cities along the way—people could even use this in the summertime,” said Colban.
Though the snowfall this year has been disappointing, Colban is still excited to come up and ski with friends, saying Tahoe is “like a second home to her.”
“I hope RideShareTahoe will get some cars off the road, help preserve ecosystems for animals and for us and to protect the lake,” said Colban. “All the beautiful fresh air and trees I love when skiing—that environment is something I want to protect.”
You can visit the website at https://www.ridesharetahoe.com/
