For SolarCity, the initiative is part of company’s ongoing effort to reduce its carbon footprint while also providing additional benefits to employees. By taking the bus rather than driving from San Francisco, each rider can cut carbon dioxide emissions by approximately 600 pounds per year.

“SolarCity is always looking for ways to both reduce its carbon footprint and to make things more convenient for employees,” SolarCity Vice President of Human Resources Linda Keala said in a RidePal blog post. “With RidePal, we are excited to be able to accomplish both with one program.”

image via RidePal

Cars, of course, are one of the major producers of CO2. For each gallon of gas that goes into cars, about 20 pounds of carbon dioxide are produced.  That means a 40-mile trip from San Francisco to Mountain View could add 30 or 40 pounds of CO2 to the atmosphere, depending on gas mileage.

RidePal hopes to curb those emissions not only in the Bay Area, but around the nation. RidePal is part of the Greenstart Accelerator program and is talking to investors and looking to expand with more routes in the Bay Area – including heading into the East Bay. Croiu said the company will need around $2.5 million to get routes going in the Bay Area before expanding in cities across the nation.

Croiu said the company’s business model is based on two simple facts: there are a lot of people who need to get to a workplace and right now, a lot of them are driving alone in their cars to get there. Those factors sound like nearly every major city in the United States, and those are precisely RidePal’s next targets — the 20 biggest U.S. cities. If all goes well, you might soon be able to spend your daily commute checking your email or reading EarthTechling.

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