The Benefits of Carpooling

Carpool Basics

Carpooling or ride sharing generally involves two or more friends or coworkers who share a ride to and from work, rather than each person driving himself and taking his own car. Carpoolers take turns driving, either a day or week at a time. Participants either meet at a central location, such as a designated lot for carpoolers near a shopping center, or are picked up at each other's homes.

Advantages of Carpools

A common reason people carpool is to save money on gas, especially if they take turns sharing the ride with three or four other people. This could be a considerable savings when gas prices rise. Another benefit is the ability to read, sleep, catch up on work or just relax and look out the window while someone else is driving. Some people enjoy the social aspect of talking with friends or colleagues, joking and catching up on office gossip. In addition, with many highways in big cities offering separate carpool lanes of traffic, your commute may be faster than if you drove yourself.

Organizing a Carpool

To find other people interested in carpooling, you could put up a sign on your company's message board or in the lunchroom or network with your friends and coworkers. Another option is to check the Internet for Web sites or ride-share classifieds that can match you up with others who travel the same route to work. These Web sites let you search by origin city, destination city and days of the week. As with any interaction with strangers, exercise common sense and don't give out any unnecessary personal information.

Carpool Safety and Etiquette

Here are some suggestions for good carpool etiquette. Keep your car in good working order, keep the gas tank full and check with your insurance company to find out if you are covered for extra passengers or if you qualify for a discount because you carpool. Pick up your passengers in a timely manner and try to avoid discussing sensitive topics in the car, such as politics or religion. Don't hog the radio and, most importantly, don't distract the driver. Follow these simple pointers and, before long, you will be on the road to a successful carpool.