Innovation & Job News

RidePost, one of the newest startups in the ever-growing cadre of D.C. transportation options, will be looking for a community manager, a back-end engineer, and possibly a front-end engineer in the coming months. The online ridesharing board launched in D.C. in February.

“Our main goal,” says Marty Bauer, CEO and co-founder of RidePost, “is to help people who need to go more than 50 miles at a time.”

“Long-distance commuting is a huge problem,” Bauer explains. “People want something that will help. The [city] administration wants to reduce cars in the city.” He points to Car2go and Zipcar, saying that the point-to-point rental companies are great once riders are in the city. “But outer points are not always served by planes, trains, buses.”

Potential ridesharers log onto RidePost and connect with a Facebook login. Once on the site, they can look for other people going to the same destination—whether it’s a daily commute from Fredericksburg to the District, or a weekend trip to the Eastern Shore. Since riders pay drivers a variable fee depending on the distance of the trip, sharing the ride can help offset the cost of gas and tolls.

Bauer knows that with all ridesharing, safety is on everyone’s mind. “You want to know exactly who you’re dealing with before you ever get in a car,” he says. The site has several layers of safety built in. The Facebook connection provides a real name and identity. RidePost also verifies a user’s email, address, and phone number. A meeting page provides information about others the car, as well as details about starting and ending points, and can be sent to friends or family.

RidePost started as a private network at the University of South Carolina. When Fortify Ventures invited the startup to The Fort, Bauer and his three co-founders decided to bring the company to the District. “D.C. is the best market for transportation,” he explains. “I have been floored by the D.C. tech community and the people here who are interested in transportation.”