Carpooling can be very fun. But I am sure there were many things that you did not know about carpooling. Here are some facts that will take you by surprise.
I carpool with my colleague every day to commute to work. We live close by and it becomes really easy to travel everyday with someone than to struggle alone. Not to mention, it saves a huge amount of time for me and is a lot more economical than by using public transport. If all of us were to carpool to go to work/college or school, we would be doing a great deal to save the environment by reducing the amount of air pollution. Plus, the rising oil prices make car-sharing a great option to commute. And trust me, it is very convenient for all its members, even the one who is driving. Car-sharing or pooling really does have many benefits and most of us are plain unaware of it.
Carpooling Facts
- Some cities have HOV (High Occupancy Vehicle) lanes, also called carpool lanes, that are a lot less crowded and fast-moving. You can use them only if you carpool with someone, significantly reducing your commuting time.
- Taking the 11 km HOV lane can bring your 26 minutes of traveling time down to 9 minutes.
- An average American spends 40 hours a year in slow-moving traffic!
- Fewer people carpool now than ever before, even when no HOV lanes existed.
- About 51% carpoolers belong to the same family.
- About 40% people carpool with those they live with.
- Ride-sharing decreases the amount of carbon monoxide and other greenhouse gases emitted by vehicles everyday into the atmosphere.
- Almost 1 in 10 Americans carpool, most of whom carpool with their spouses, as of 2009.
- Out of these, 77.3% carpool with just one more person.
- Mesa and Phoenix in the state of Arizona have a carpool rate of more than 16%. Sacramento and Fresno in California, have the same at 15.1% and 15.7%, respectively.
- Car-sharing can save you up to thousands of dollars a year! An average carpooler saves about $600 each month on commuting, depending on the distance covered.
- About 78% Americans commute to work solo.
- There is an increase in the number of solo drivers in the past 2 decades.
- If you carpool at least twice a week, you can help reduce the emission of 1,600 pounds of greenhouse gases by a car each year.
- If 100 people carpool everyday, there will be an annual reduction of 1320 pounds of carbon monoxide and 2,376,000 pounds of carbon dioxide in the air.
- An average small-sized car, with an engine capacity of 1.6 liters, produces 200 g of carbon dioxide, every kilometer that it runs.
- Did you know? About 18% of your budget is spent in gas costs and car maintenance. Adding a carpooler, will add 5 minutes to your total travel time while reducing half of your gas bills if you split with just one.
- If four car owners rotate their car for lift-sharing, it will significantly reduce maintenance costs while your car suffers much lesser wear and tear.
- Car-sharing can help improve your country’s economic condition too by reducing dependency on foreign oil by as much as 40%.
- If everyone carpools for at least one day a week, the traffic on road will reduce by 20%.
Sharing of cars works like a great stress buster after work for me and it is a safe mode of commuting. We chat on our way back home and generally end up having a hearty laugh. It also gives me time to connect with my colleague which is a little harder while we are both busy at work. Try it. It is a good way of finding time to interact with the people you know and see everyday. You can carpool with your neighbors, co-workers and friends.
You can also choose to carpool with complete strangers through slugging, organized pick-up points, carpool community groups, websites like carpoolworld.com and eRideShare.com. Did you know? Fumes emitted by cars are the second leading factor contributing to the increase in greenhouse gases. More reason to opt for car-sharing. It’s up to you to choose to do your bit to save the planet.