Tony Nicholls
As many of you know, we here at our company like to advocate all things ‘green’. So we were extremely excited when we heard about rome2rio, a new search engine that allows users to compare the carbon footprint of every travel option available.
The website, headed by two ex-Microsoft engineers lets you literally work out how to get from A to B (not unlike FromAtoB.com) via a Google Map with multi-modal travel options. It was good before, but now it’s great, thanks to the addition of carbon neutral travel offerings in partnership with Offset Options.
This allows users to compare the carbon footprint of every travel option available, thus factoring in the impact on the planet as well as their wallet. They get a real-time calculation of their chosen route’s carbon footprint and a range of carbon offset project choices to pay for, and hence make their trip carbon neutral.
If airlines have been solved by Kayak, SkyScanner and the like, rome2rio searches flights, ferries, trains and driving routes to show you your transportation options for every leg of your trip.
Travelling to Silicon Valley in Palo Alto, CA? A Google Maps search from London to Palo Alto returns no results. Orbitz and Kayak.com won’t let you input anything but a large city or airport as your destination. Rome2rio displays options of trains, and then flights to San Francisco, followed by your BART journey, including your total CO2 emissions: http://www.rome2rio.com/?London+/palo+alto
Rome2rio can also save you hundreds of pounds. The top Orbitz result for Quebec City to Brussels is often £300 more expensive and 10 hours longer than the top rome2rio result; rome2rio suggests flying direct to Paris and taking a high speed train to Brussels.
We highly recommend you have a play around with the site yourself and let us know your thoughts. Cheaper and Greener! Now that is something to feel good about.
Shaz Manelli
