Carona Chevrolet

Sao Paulo has notorious traffic jams that can turn the most patient person into a spiky ball of nerves. You can head underground and take the metro, but because the city is so big, it oftentimes doesn’t get close to where you want. Enter Carona Chevrolet. “Carona” means “ride” in Portuguese, which goes to the heart of this program. Still in beta version, the site promotes the fabulous idea of carpooling "” a concept that I don’t often see exercised here "” by providing a forum for drivers and riders to connect. Rather than one-time hook-ups, users create and join communities based on the destination. Essentially, it’s a better organized Craigslist Rideshare section. For example, if groups of people are heading to the same club on Friday, they could split the gas and parking and avoid the headache of arranging to get there before the metro closes or the bus lines stop running. To ensure the program works in the best way possible, Chevrolet’s added a ride etiquette section. It’s too early to tell how well the program will take because trust is still a big issue, but if it gets to the point where the biggest problem is only teaching people to not put their feet on the dashboard, we’re halfway there to easing traffic and breathing cleaner air.