Student venture guest post
By Jordan Klein ’23, Thomas Johnson ’23, and Eli Yadidi ’23, Raider Rides
You are exhausted. You have just taken a cross-country flight from LAX to JFK, the airport has misplaced one of your bags, and you narrowly missed your 30-minute connection to Syracuse. You will now get in at 1 a.m., and, oh by the way, the first day of classes is tomorrow. As you wait at the gate, you lock eyes with another ¸Ô±¾ÊÓƵ student you tangentially know, but your sense of relief and familiarity quickly turns to dread. You don’t know how you’ll get to campus! You’re going to miss your pickup window for the ¸Ô±¾ÊÓƵ Cruiser, it’s highly unlikely you’ll get an Uber driver who’s willing to take you an hour to campus, and all of your friends are sleeping. You decide to ask your peer how they plan on getting home tonight.
Their answer is simple: a Raider Ride.
Your one-time acquaintance-turned travel buddy tells you that his ride is guaranteed, and that no matter when he arrives in Syracuse, his student driver will be there to pick him up. He is more than happy to bring you into the ride as well, because this saves you both money. Your friend adds you to his ride group chat, you receive a confirmation text from the driver, and relief once again washes over you. When you arrive in Syracuse, your long, stressful travel day weighing heavy on your eyelids, you spot the iconic Raider Rides car magnet on a vehicle adorned with ¸Ô±¾ÊÓƵ stickers and a Red Sox bumper sticker. Not my preferred team, you think, but you keep that to yourself. You’ve never been in this car before, you’ve never met your driver, and you’re an hour away from ¸Ô±¾ÊÓƵ in the middle of the night. Yet, you’re home.
That’s the Raider Rides difference.
¸Ô±¾ÊÓƵ’s Unique Geography
At a rural school an hour away from the closest airport, travel experiences like these are very real. Raider Rides is the first completely student-led ride sharing business on ¸Ô±¾ÊÓƵ’s campus, created by students, specifically for students, to address nightmare travel days and all of the unforeseen inconveniences that come with them.
Our Initiative
Moreover, Raider Rides transcends run-of-the-mill transportation with consistent, professional, and personable customer service, and a motivated and flexible fleet of student drivers. We provide the student body with safe, reliable transportation while forging bonds between fellow students, strengthening the university community. As a student-run business, we benefit from the support of a close-knit student body and their parents, as well as mentorship from being in the Thought Into Action Incubator.
Success in Numbers
These aren’t just words, however. These are statistics.
Since our launch in November 2021, we have recruited more than 100 student drivers to our fleet, spanning across all four class years, and we have delivered more than 400 rides to ¸Ô±¾ÊÓƵ students, not to mention the introduction of a new job market on campus for students who own cars. Raider Rides is constantly breaking its own records. During Thanksgiving break 2022, on the weekend when most students travel home, Raider Rides transported 40 riders to Syracuse international airport or Utica train station.
The following weekend, when students returned to school, we provided 41 rides back to campus. This record was subsequently broken again when 61 students used Raider Rides to get home for winter break, breaking our rider record three consecutive weekends in a row. In other words, Raider Rides has quickly become the premier student-friendly transportation option on ¸Ô±¾ÊÓƵ’s campus.
What Lies Ahead
Now, with a focus on the future in more ways than one, Raider Rides is increasing its efforts on marketing and business generation, thanks to a TIA Incubator seed grant awarded by the Office of Entrepreneurship and Innovation.
Our goal when applying for a seed grant was to develop swag and posters that would help us increase awareness and generate more rides. We purchased custom sweatshirts to give to brand ambassadors and to sell to supporters. We also designed and printed eye-catching posters about both our standard service to the airport and train station and a new component in our business: Rapid Rides, an on-demand local ride service. We are distributing these posters across campus in residence halls, common rooms, dining halls, stores around town, and even the Jug, where we hope potential customers will see our ad and opt to take a ride instead of walking home.
Expanding Horizons
With successful operations at ¸Ô±¾ÊÓƵ and a young, invigorated team ready to take over the reins when the current leadership graduates, Raider Rides is now in a prime spot for expansion. We are planning to develop a ride-sharing app and are reaching out to computer science students to join our team. We also have our eyes set on Hamilton College and are in communication with multiple Hamilton students, including the head of the Student Government Association, about how we can serve their college community.
Extending Our Appreciation
We have so many people to thank for our success, such as our TIA mentors and the staff of the Office of Entrepreneurship and Innovation, but none of this could have come to fruition without ¸Ô±¾ÊÓƵ students. They are the ones who drive the business (literally). Each driver and customer has played a role in getting us to where we are today.
Contact Information:
Jordan Klein ’23 - CEO - jcklein@colgate.edu
Thomas Johnson ’23 - CMO - tmjohnson@colgate.edu
Eli Yadidi ’23 - CTO - eyadidi@colgate.edu
General email: curaiderrides@gmail.com
Instagram:
Raider Rides is a participating venture in the TIA Incubator and is currently pending certification through the Campus Venture Initiative.