Print      
Keeping track of buses, trains
Polina Raygorodskaya, cofounder of transportation site Wanderu. (Victoria Abbott Riccardi for the globe)
By Victoria Abbott Riccardi
Globe correspondent

In 1990, when Polina Raygorodskaya was 4 years old, she and her family left their home in Saint Petersburg, Russia, to seek a better life in America, eventually settling down in Newton. “My Dad initially worked delivering pizzas for Papa Gino’s and saved up enough money to take computer classes, and now he’s super high up doing security systems at Verizon. ’’ Seeing her father’s achievements, coupled with the entrepreneur fervor at Babson College, where she graduated in 2008 with a degree in Business Administration, Raygorodskaya launched Polina Fashion LLC, a boutique PR firm representing fashion, luxury, beauty, and travel clients her sophomore year. In 2012 she cofounded Wanderu, a website to find and compare bus and train routes, fares, departure and arrival times, and carrier amenities, now servicing the United States, Canada, and parts of Mexico. In her Broad Street, Boston headquarters, Raygorodskaya recently explained why she switched from PR to transportation, what she does all day, and her secrets spots around the city to snag a really great meal.

Q. What inspired the creation of Wanderu?

A. When I had my PR firm, I traveled frequently by bus and train between major cities. But the booking process was a huge headache because there are a lot of different options between major city routes. During the summer of 2011, I got together with a group of friends to go across the country to raise awareness about national parks and forests using ride shares. After a few stops, we got to the Jefferson National Forest in Virginia and one of our ride shares ended up canceling. We were stranded in a very remote location so tried to find a bus or a train and ended up getting frustrated and renting a car. That was the tipping point for me and someone else who was on the trip, who is now my cofounder.

Q. Your target market?

A. Anybody who travels, but primarily millennials because they’re less likely to own cars and more likely to live in major cities, so they depend upon major forms of transportation to get from one major city to another.

Q. Why not rent a car?

A. Who wants to deal with driving and traffic? The benefits of bus or train travel is that you’re able to be driven and you can plug in and get some work done, watch a movie, talk to your friends, go on Facebook, whatever it is. Renting a car is also more expensive [than taking a bus or train] so you not only save money, but it’s much better for the environment.

Q. Your responsibilities as CEO?

A. Oh, there’s lots [laughs]. It depends upon the day, but mostly my focus is on building a great team and giving them the resources and coaching to make sure that they’re able to do their jobs as best they can. Aside from that, it’s strategic thinking, like planning where we’re going to expand to next, what are the things we want to do next, and finding and bringing on new partners.

Q. Do you travel often for work?

A. Usually I will spend a couple of weeks traveling and a couple of weeks in the office. Like last week I was in San Francisco. The week before I was in London, Berlin, and Amsterdam. This week I’m in the office and next week I’m in New York for the day.

Q. How are you getting to New York?

A. A bus, of course!

Q. Biggest challenges you’re facing?

A. Continuing to build out our team — we have about 30 people now and have hired several in the last month. We are going to hire a few more until we’re ready to scale up.

Q. Future plans?

A. We just started testing [airline] flights. If you’re traveling for more than five hours, it lets you compare bus, train, and plane options. We’re continually adding new partnerships and are looking to expand into new regions and new countries.

Q. Such as where?

A. We’re looking at Europe.

Q. How did you come up with the name Wanderu?

A. Since our target demographic was millennials we said, ‘OK, what words appeal to that demographic?’ The word “wanderer’’ really stood out and so we started adding vowels to the end of it and Wanderu just sort of flew off the tongue. When we did a Google search to see if the name had been taken, it turns out Wanderu is actually a sort of monkey., so we had a mascot.

Q. Favorite place you’ve ever visited?

A. Probably Bora Bora. The water is crystal clear and the wildlife in the water is wilder [than elsewhere] because the islands are so remote.

Q. Dream destination?

A. There are so many — I haven’t had a chance to travel through Asia, so I really want to do that, and also South America.

Q. Favorite aspects of Boston ? A. I live in South Boston, close to Fort Point, and get to walk along the water to work and it’s absolutely beautiful. I also like that you have so many universities, so it’s a very intellectual city.

Q. Favorite restaurants?

A. There’s a place called Jerk in Dorchester. It’s a Jamaican place, although I’m really afraid to mention it because every time I go it’s empty, but it’s like the best food I’ve ever had, but I don’t want it to get busy [laughs]. They make this curry shrimp that’s really, really good. There’s also a really good Peruvian place in East Boston called Rincon Limeno , and then there’s a really good Afghani place called The Helmond [in Cambridge].

Q. Is it true you once modeled?

A. Yes, but really quickly I learned that it’s not what I wanted to do.

Q. Why?

A. Because I like making things happen versus just standing there in front of a camera and not having a say in anything.

Interview has been edited and con-densed. Victoria Abbott Riccardi can be reached at vabbottriccardi@ gmail.com.