Roo - cs428TAs/w2025 GitHub Wiki

Pitch

Introducing Roo, the friendly carpooling app that makes shared rides simple, affordable, and eco-friendly.

With Roo, commuting has never been easier:

• Connect Drivers and Riders: Drivers can post their destination and available seats, while riders can search for trips that fit their schedule.
• Reserve Your Spot: Riders can book seats with just a tap, ensuring a hassle-free ride-sharing experience.
• Save Money: Riders pay a small fee—less than the cost of gas—while drivers earn a commission to offset their travel costs.
• Cut Traffic and Emissions: Reduce congestion and your carbon footprint by sharing rides with others going your way.

Whether you're commuting to work, heading to an event, or going home for the summer, Roo helps you save time, money, and the planet. It’s quick to set up, easy to use, and designed to make every trip a little friendlier.

Hop into Roo today and make your ride count!

Summary of Features

• Set up regular carpools for daily commutes or recurring events.
• Roo helps you visualize your environmental impact by estimating your reduced emissions and tracking them over time.
• Roo promotes trust and safety with a community-based rating system.

Possible Architecture

Frontend

I have lots of experience with React/Javascript so I would prefer to build the front-end with React or Next.js.

Backend

I've built several backend services with Express.js (shoutout to CS 260) but I'm interested in learning more about C#. If anyone interested in this app has C# experience, we can consider that for our backend; otherwise, I'd like to stick to Express.js to keep things easy.

Infrastructure

GitHub pages is super easy and free for hosting the frontend, that's my preference. But if we see this app making us millions, we can consider an AWS S3 & CloudFront setup. We can use AWS ECS (probably cheaper) or EC2 (definitely easier) for the backend.

Proposed by Beau Yancey