Carpooling can be a flexible and convenient alternative to driving alone. Carpools can vary based on the participant’spreference. It just depends on how you set things up.
- One person can do all the driving with riders contributing to the cost of the commute, or the riders may share driving and not exchange any money between them.
- Many employers offer incentives for carpooling like prime parking spots or free parking.
- Schedules can change from day to day, week to week, or they can stay the same for however long you and your partner work out.
- You can have two people in a carpool or more if schedules allow.
Carpooling is convenient, cost effective and easy. You can make the carpool arrangements fit your needs. Whether it’s comfort, reduced travel time, or money savings, carpooling has numerous benefits.
Finding a carpool partner can be easy. It may be as simple as talking to your co-workers to see who might live near you and may be interested in setting up a carpool.
One of the easiest ways is to log onto www.CarpoolMatchNW.org. This is a confidential carpoolmatching site that does all of the work for you. You simply log into the web site, answer a series of questions, and then submit the form. The site will instantly provide you with possible matches. You can contact the potential matches via e-mail to start the discussion about possibly setting up a carpool.
If you decide to make carpooling a part of your trip, here are some tips to make your experience a little easier:
- After e-mailing a person to set up a possible carpool, you may wish to meet before deciding to form the carpool. You can meet just about anywhere. A lot of people choose to meet up for lunch or a quick cup of coffee. It is your choice.
- When the decision is made to go ahead and form a carpool, it is recommended that you follow a couple guidelines:
- Set up rules for the carpool such as policies about smoking, the radio, waiting times, and driving rotation.
- Set up a plan for what to do when vacations occur or if someone gets sick.
- Decide whether you and your partner want to keep specific records that would detail information such as each carpool participant’s name, address, home phone number, etc., mileage traveled, gasoline purchases, and fares.
Taking these steps may prevent headaches in the future, but again, it is all up to you and your partner as to how you want to set things up.
