Comments on: Unclog your commute

By: Robbin

Robbin — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 14:48:08 +0000

My sister’s company offers a carpool van. She meets others at a designated spot and they switch off driving the van. I believe the company even pays for the gas! (each carpooler pays a small amount each month for the service).

By: Horse N Buggy

Horse N Buggy — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 18:58:40 +0000

I began carpooling about 6 months ago when it was obvious that gas prices were over $3/gallon and only going to increase. There’s only two of us in the group. My coworker sometimes has to take his kids to school before meeting me, so he always meets me at my house. We alternate driving for a week at a time. If one of us is on vacation during “our week” then we will adjust our schedule to make it fair on the other. We arrive and leave at the same time (I had a tendency to stay late for no real reason before I began carpooling). If one of us really needs a car at lunch, neither of us minds allowing the other to drive our cars.

I can’t tell you how much I love being driven to work. Simply getting into the car and then getting out at the office (or home) is so less draining on me mentally. Of course, there’s the obvious benefit of cutting my fuel cost literally in half. I live in an area of the country that had a fuel shortage after the hurricane. The shortage lasted about two weeks, but based on my reduced driving load and having filled up right before the crisis, I never had to wait in line for gas.

I have to put more thought into arranging for lunch when I don’t have a car. Even though I can use his car when it’s free, it’s not *always* free at lunch. By being more diligent about shopping and bringing my lunch, I’m also saving money on food. It’s pretty much win/win all around.

As for stuff like the radio…yeah, we lost our inhibitions pretty quickly. We both like to sing out loud and we each do so as if the other is not in the car. So I’ve listened to some “hair band” ballads that I would normally have turned off, but it hasn’t killed me.

By: HeyStephanie

HeyStephanie — Sat, 04 Oct 2008 05:43:53 +0000

Here in San Diego, several companies utilize RideShare vans. Employees meet at a set location then take the van to a drop off location next to their work area. At my old company, the HR department would reward employees that used public transportion or rode a bike to work with gift certificates to places like Jamba Juice and Starbucks. Unfortunately, I lived 20 miles away so riding a bike to work wasn’t an option. I think RideSpring is a great idea and hope that more San Diego companies sign up for it.

By: J

Wed, 01 Oct 2008 16:14:45 +0000

I started carpooling a few months ago and it’s been great. There are three of us in the carpool, and possibly a fourth will be added soon. I had to adjust my schedule a bit to fit in, but I’ve found the following benefits:

- I am around the house in the mornings to help out.
- I now drive my car two times a week. Some weeks it’s only one time. I just cut my gas bill in half.
- I only have to deal with overcrowded and overstressed roads 1/2-1/3 of the time.
- I now know two co-workers better than before.

As for the radio, air conditioner, etc — we are all polite human beings, and sort it out. It’s also entirely OK to skip carpooling in out group. Some weeks we’ve only been able to carpool one day, and it’s not a big deal. We all have lives, wives and kids, so we all understand that stuff comes up.

Most of the other complaints have actually led us to save time in other ways:
- Because I had to adjust my schedule later, we now religiously plan menus a week in advance and only go to the store once a week.
- We are utilizing bulk purchases to freeze a lot of meals in advance, so we are saving time and money there.

By: Clarksa

Clarksa — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 20:28:10 +0000

Due to the wife’s car basically falling apart, we’ve been forced to commute together and have saved $200 over the past three weeks.

By: AmandaV

AmandaV — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 02:52:32 +0000

My husband and I work at the same company (in different departments). Once a month they do a drawing for $100 for those who have carpooled at least once in the month. We have won 4 times between the two of us in the last 2 years. It works for us-but we’re married. I can see the problems mentioned aboved as being a no-go for a lot of commuters.

By: Brandon

Brandon — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 21:11:42 +0000

Interesting. after you find a coworker to carpool with you, you can find the total monthly cost of your commute:

http://www.commuteprice.com ( seems to be related )

By: infmom

infmom — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 16:08:48 +0000

In Los Angeles, where public transportation is a joke and housing costs are insane, I think someone ought to at least look into not pouring money into more freeways and instead spending it on housing subsidies so people can live closer to where they work.

By: Lori

Lori — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 14:56:54 +0000

While I love the idea of carpooling and I think this is a great solution for large, centrally located companies, like Plaid Ninja said above it works only in situations where people start and stop work at set times. I don’t know a single person among my circle of friends who has a job like that. If you miss your ride home around here, you’re screwed. Meaningful public transportation shuts down at 6 p.m. (and is pretty sparse to begin with), and cabs are rare and expensive.

I unclogged my former 33-mile, nearly 1-hour commute by going back to freelancing full time and working at home.

By: angie

angie — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 14:52:14 +0000

I would love to carpool, and there is even a woman who lives on my way to work. I have a fairly flexible schedule and could tweak my time in and out to meet hers. However, she is a smoker and I am asthmatic and very sensitive to the smell of cigarette smoke, it will occasionally even trigger a migraine. I don’t want to start every day with a headache and a cough. I have offered to pick her up and take her home multiple times, but I think she’s more comfortable driving. I just can’t make myself do it. Stupid little stuff like that gets in my way of doing something I desperately want to do. I wish more people in my company would be interested in doing something like this. There’s got to be someone else I can carpool with!

By: DJ

DJ — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 14:45:55 +0000

I telecommute entirely now, thank heaven. But back when I did drive a long way to work every day, I tried commuting with a co-worker who lived half a mile from me.

What an ideal situation, eh? Except that she was chronically late, which made me late, which made my supervisor angry, which led me to driving solo again.

It all depends on having reliable car-pool partners, I suppose.

By: Beth

Beth — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 13:23:13 +0000

I used to carpool with a co-worker and we loved it! It was enjoyable for both of us to have the time to chat/gossip and saved us both on gas. If we needed to run an errand we would coordinate trips and go together. We did it at first because one of us had a broken down car, but kept it up because we enjoyed it.

By: Another Deb

Another Deb — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 13:08:39 +0000

I carpool with my husband who STILL cannot get out of bed in time to get going with me! At least once a week he is just not ready to go when I need to leave in order to be on time. Arghh! The carpool idea was one of the main incentives for me to quit a job I loved that was very far away.

By: Andy

Andy — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 12:53:50 +0000

People aren’t going to carpool more unless you change their incentives. One good way is congestion pricing.

By: Plaid Ninja

Plaid Ninja — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 12:42:01 +0000

I’m one of the 77% driving to work alone, and I have no plans to car pool. Car pooling relies on the idea that everyone begins and ends their day at the same time. I don’t want to have to depend on others and I don’t want to have them depend on me. If someone needs to go in to the office early and/or stay late that affects everyone. If I want to make a stop before or after work I can’t do that because everyone else has their own destination to get to. Not to mention having to maintain an environment in which everyone is comfortable. No a/c on high, music loud, etc.

My commute is also “me time” – I spend all day with colleagues & co-workers. I prefer to not share my commute time. Traveling with strangers on the subway is one thing. Its still essentially travelling alone.

If there were adequate public transportation routes to my job that didn’t involve an hour’s travel in two snail’s pace buses that are extremely packed I would consider it. But that just isn’t a realistic option, at least not for my own psychological well being.

By: Ryan K from Going Carless

Ryan K from Going Carless — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 12:17:10 +0000

Recently the transmission in my car went out. I didn’t want to put the repair on the credit card I worked so hard to fix. So I made the decision to go carless until I can pay for the fix in cash and still have $1000 in savings.

You can read about my carless adventure at http://www.goingCarless.com