News: restructuring, translations and feedback

Dear Caroster users,

We hope you had a great summer! As we return after this break, let’s catch up on what’s been happening at Caroster. We have been working hard, and we are excited to announce that Beta 6 of Caroster is now live!

Our mission remains the same: to enhance your: to improve your user experience while contributing to the decarbonization of mobility. Thanks to your feedback, we have been able to develop and consider new features to meet your needs. Here is what happened recently and what is coming soon:

What's new?

🌍 Translations in German and Dutch: Thanks to our amazing contributors, Caroster is now available in two new languages. This helps us grow our community even further and make carpooling more accessible worldwide!

📜 Carpooler Charter: We have introduced a charter outlining the commitments of drivers and passengers, ensuring a respectful and pleasant carpooling experience. You can check it out here: Carpooler Charter (EN).

💬 Real-time Feedback: Feel free to share your improvement suggestions here: Caroster evolution: your suggestions. We have created statuses so you can track how we address your feedback. Your inputs are valuable in helping us improve Caroster and develop the features you care about most.

👋 Welcome to Mathilde: We are thrilled to welcome Mathilde Draps as our new Product Owner. She will be focusing on Caroster's development, always with the goal to work with you to make Caroster a usefull tool for you.

⬇️ Learn more in the team’s message below

Currently in development 

🌐 Tolgee for better translation management: We are testing this tool to make it even easier to translate the app into new languages, allowing our community to suggest translations more easily. This will make Caroster even more accessible globally.

🔄 Preparing for a complete website redesign: We have started preparing for a complete website redesign. This project, scheduled for the end of 2024, aims to better showcase Caroster’s value and its various use cases, including adding a blog. The new structure will also make the site easier to translate.

Thanks

• Many thanks to our contributors who made Caroster's translation possible:

  • German: @ben-biber (link: https://github.com/ben-biber)

  • Dutch: @Vistaus (link: https://github.com/Vistaus)

  • You can also view the Codeberg translations here: https://translate.codeberg.org/projects/caroster/web-app/.

• Thanks to all the contributors who have made this new version possible:

  • Tim Izzo, Octree (link: https://5ika.ch)

  • Simon Mulquin, Octree @smulquin (link: https://git.octree.ch/smulquin)

Word from the team

Our aim is to be as close as possible to you, and that means being transparent about our choices. Here's a second attempt with this post from Caroster's product managers, Xavier von Aarburg and Mathilde Draps.

Dear users, this beta 6 release is a new milestone for us. Thanks to external contributions, we're expanding our community with the addition of new languages, making Caroster accessible to an even wider audience. This effort is fully in line with our mission: to promote more sustainable and collaborative mobility through car sharing, while supporting the evolution of the digital commons.

One example is the Tolgee translation tool, which we are currently testing. It facilitates the contribution of new translations, paving the way for international expansion and greater user participation.

Caroster Plus seems to be winning you over with its more secure management of carpooling connections and a dedicated administrator role, particularly suited to large events. We are currently working on improving this version to enhance moderation of our community's events.

Caroster Plus is currently replacing the waiting list system in Caroster Basic with a system that alerts you by e-mail when a ride is available near your departure point. Depending on the size of the event, some people may want to stay on the waiting list system in Caroster Plus. That's why we're exploring a range of solutions to guarantee efficient connections tailored to every need.

We are also redesigning Caroster’s website to make it clearer, more relevant, and aligned with your expectations. We want the project’s value to be more easily understood and for the site to become a source of information on carpooling and the decarbonization of mobility with the addition of a blog.

Every year, during Octree week, we take time to reflect deeply on the direction we want to take Caroster. This period of reflection, enriched by external perspectives, helps us refine our long-term vision and strategy. This year’s session took place from Monday, September 30, to Friday, October 4, 2024. We were able to brainstorm together and generate ideas for Caroster’s future improvements.

Taking time to organize our thoughts, we are excited to share more with you soon!

Xavier von Aarburg & Mathilde Draps - Caroster Product Managers

We were there

We were pleased to participate in several recent events:

• Residency of thevirtual assembly with the Swiss from September 16 to 20.

• Numérique en commun in Chambéry, September 25 and 26.

• A workshop organized by the Modus Foundation on carpooling in Geneva on September 17, 2024.

• The Mobility Afterwork hosted by the Modus Foundation focused on "Is the bicycle an effective tool for the massification of modal shift?" on September 18, 2024 at the Rath Museum.

• Participation in a workshop on cross-border mobility at the 1st Cross-border Forum on Social and Solidarity Economy (ESS) on Tuesday October 8, 2024.

Useful links

🔗 Calculate your carbon footprint for your events: Are you organizing or attending a festival, concert, or match? Estimate your carbon impact here: CO2 Footprint.

We hope you enjoy these updates and look forward to your feedback. Thank you for being part of the Caroster community!

See you soon.

- The Caroster team