Carpooling
Travelling together is travelling smart! When we carpool we can reduce the number of cars on the road and gain many potential benefits, such as:
- sharing the cost of petrol and parking with friends
- reducing the pollution and congestion in our communities
- reducing our travel time during peak hours.
How can I carpool?
Carpooling is as simple as:- catching a lift with a colleague
- organising our children into a carpool roster with other parents
- dropping a neighbour at their destination on the way to ours.
To make carpooling easy here are some tips to keep in mind:
- Determine a route and schedule.
- Establish the morning pickup point(s) and designate a place(s) to meet for the trip home.
- Be punctual and decide as a group how long the pool will wait for a passenger.
- Share costs. If members do not share the driving equally, come to an understanding of how you'll share costs and agree on payment dates.
- Establish some ground rules for smoking, music, food, drinks and so on. Discuss possible irritants among the group for example, some people are sensitive to strong perfumes or colognes, some may like quiet time in the morning.
- Draw up a schedule for driving. If all members of your carpool alternate driving, decide among yourselves if you want to alternate on a daily, weekly or monthly basis.
- Drive carefully, keep the car clean and in good repair, and ensure you have enough petrol for each trip. Follow road rules for everyone's safety and peace of mind.
- Set up a line of communication for sudden changes. For example, if a driver is ill or not going to work, nominate an alternate driver to minimise inconvenience. If you are a passenger and not travelling that day, notify the driver as soon as possible. Ensure everyone has a copy of home, work or mobile numbers. Don't forget to give notice of vacation, personal or overtime plans.
- Avoid side trips on the way home unless pre-arranged. If it is for commuting to and from work, save your trips to the grocery store for the weekend. Or, you may choose not to carpool on the days you must run an errand.
- Make sure your insurance is up to date. Some policies offer rate reductions for carpooling.
- Check for preferential, free or low-cost parking with your organisation.
- Give your carpool some time to work. It usually takes a few weeks to arrange everyone's routine into a harmonious pattern. Most people enjoy the company and find unanticipated benefits to carpooling.
- Hold a 'meet and greet' morning tea to introduce the idea to staff and start signing people up—even if only for a trial period.
- Set up a simple database to match interested people who live near each other and work similar hours (you may need confidentiality procedures and consent forms).
- Provide incentives like priority or low-cost car parking for carpoolers (nearest the front door or under shade).
- Encourage people to follow basic etiquette rules (see hints and tips) and encourage participants to change carpool buddies if things do not work out the first time.
- Promote the initiative—for example, write newsletter articles with case studies and reminders about cost savings to participants.
- Celebrate successes with social events, awards and more promotions.
- For more tips on carpooling see TravelSmart related links.
For further information contact the TravelSmart team
Last updated 17 December 2008
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