To his credit, Ari Iaccarino is well-aware of the downsides of the carpooling startup he co-founded three years ago. He even made a T-shirt that encapsulates the company's mission—and all that could possibly go wrong—in the following, irresistible punchline: 'Ridj: taking strangers into the woods since 2016.'
Iaccarino, a Boston University alum and local English as a second language teacher, is one of the three co-founders of Ridj-it, an online platform that connects carpool drivers with people who want to explore the outdoors, but have no way to get there. In our conversation, Iaccarino said that "the Uber for New England adventures" would be an acceptable description.
Ride-hailing companies such as Uber and Lyft have certainly helped people who don't drive move around; but you can't call an Uber for a trip that's over one hundred miles, right? You'd spend a fortune. That’s where Ridj-it, which is essentially carpool for local leisure activities, comes into the picture.
"We are the solution to the last 150 miles problem."
"We are the solution to the last 150 miles problem," said Iaccarino, referencing to the notorious 'last mile problem'—hurdles logistics companies face when delivering goods in the last step of the supply chain.
With Ridj-it, people who want to go hiking, biking or skiing can connect with fellow explorers and, most importantly, with someone who has a car. So, yes: customers pay for a trip to a remote location with a group of strangers, with all the safety concerns that may arise.
As a defense, Iaccarino pointed out: "When you have so many people in a car, it's very hard for bad actors to carry out anything." The group protects its members: that's why Ridj-it allows only trips with a minimum of one driver and two passengers. The average adventure involves two cars and a total of 8-10 people, Iaccarino said.
"Everybody is thinking, 'Oh, but what if this psycho comes out into the woods and stabs me...?' Just this really bizarre Hollywood imagination, and it's not really the case."
"Everybody is thinking, 'Oh, but what if this psycho comes out into the woods and stabs me...?' Just this really bizarre Hollywood imagination, and it's not really the case," he added.
Still, going out with strangers has its positive and negative sides, exactly like carpooling (which, by the way, is available in Massachusetts thanks to a variety of services, from MassRIDES to Yes We Van). What Iaccarino emphasized is the community aspect of Ridj-It, which he says is really important for him and the other co-founders: Rik Ganguly, a data scientist for public health, and Alex Nikitin, a developer for Harvard Medical School.
"We're really concerned about different types of people being able to interact with each other, like people from different countries, people from different language backgrounds," Iaccarino said. "It's not just transportation."
In an email, Iaccarino mentioned that what inspired him to launch Ridj-It was the difficulties his ESL students faced accessing the outdoors. He had the idea for Ridj-It while hiking with Rik at Franconia Ridge, in the White Mountains of New Hampshire, in the summer of 2015. "I turned to Rik and I said, 'Hey, is there any transport up to this place?' And he said, 'No, but we should probably just start a business.'"
Four years later, Ridj-it has organized over 2,500 rides in New England. Its 2,000 users are either Millennials or age 35+ foreign nationals, Iaccarino said.
On the platform, both riders and drivers can propose ideas for trips; An average trip costs $29 for passengers. Drivers pay a $20 deposit, which is returned in full after a trip is completed. Riders pay carpooling fees to drivers, who in the end are reimbursed for their expenses, and the company gets a stake—with the average round trip costing $29 for each passenger.
The fully-bootstrapped company will offer adventures in the New York City area starting next month. Ridj-it maintains a single office at Boston University's BUILD Lab.
