More airport ride matching

We’ve seen a few different efforts to help travellers share rides to and from airports, most recently Virgin Atlantic’s Taxi2. Now one of our spotters has alerted us to another, Ridepenguin, which is currently in beta at Seattle’s Sea-Tac and Las Vegas’s McCarran airports. Ridepenguin helps travellers reduce costs and emissions by sharing taxi rides to or from the airport. Users start off on the free service by indicating which airport they’re going to, when, and from what part of town. Ridepenguin then estimates how much money and emissions would be saved if the traveller shared a ride, and invites them to broadcast their journey share request. If Ridepenguin finds a match, it informs users by SMS. From there, the individuals concerned can exchange messages or phone numbers to coordinate the pickup. The service is available both for desktop computers and for smartphones running a mobile browser. Ridepenguin is the brainchild of Seattle software company EverythingIsTheBest, which hopes to expand coverage to other airports in the future. One to partner with to help make that happen? (Related: Londoners share lifts to Luton airport — Facilitating cab shares to the airport.) Spotted by: Susanna Haynie