Ride Share and Car Share: Revamping Your Driving Habits

By: Oliver Truesdale

Ride Sharing, Car Pooling
It is becoming easier and easier to reduce our carbon footprint when it comes to commuting and getting our errands done around town.  Ride sharing, or car pooling, is now a popular way to reduce traffic and exhaust emissions on our highways while also helping individuals cut down on driving expenses. Sharing rides is an eco-friendly way to drive from one place to another, whether it is to work or getting the kids to school and their various activities.

High occupancy travel, or HOV, means more passengers in fewer vehicles. On most of our major highways, certain lanes are now specifically designated for this type of travel. HOV lanes help ease congestion as fewer vehicles are on the road, keeping traffic flowing and getting us where we need to go with greater fluidity. Using these lanes also means that municipalities don't necessarily need to expand highway construction, which eliminates expensive building costs, causes less intrusion on available land, and helps tax payers keep money in their pockets.
 

Online organizations such as carpoolconnect or erideshare are ideal ways to find out who is going where.  There are also individual state sites like commutersmart.info for Southern California, which helps you find people in your area with whom you can ride, as well as locating convenient pick up locales. 

Car Sharing
If you need to drive short distances and do not want to carry the expense of owning or renting a vehicle, car sharing is another viable eco-friendly option.  Here you pay a small yearly membership fee along with an hourly rate to take advantage of a service that is rapidly gaining momentum around the country.  Started in Europe in the mid 1980's to reduce costs as well as carbon dioxide emissions, the United States has caught on and since 2003 has increased membership services by 300%. 

Instead of buying a car, sharing one is becoming the preferred alternative by many drivers as the cost of ownership is often prohibitive. If you drive less than 100,000 miles per year, you can achieve enormous savings using a car sharing service in addition to public transit. The cost of joining a car share service is generally around $50.00 annually and an average hourly payment of $8.00, with lower rates for monthly plans.

Joining a company such as Zipcar is easy as you can apply online and get approval within 24 hours. Zipcar has branches all around the country and offers cars, SUVs and trucks. Once you are approved, you then get a zipcard, which unlocks your designated vehicle and lets you go about your business until you are ready to drop the vehicle off at a designated point.

Zipcar is a great way to help reduce the carbon footprint as it is responsible for taking 15 to 20 personally owned vehicles off the road per car share. Additionally, because of the hourly rate per use, the tendency to drive around randomly is diminished, which makes the potential for reducing emissions substantial.

It is not that hard to change your driving habits. Plan to revamp the way you travel by investigating your nearest care share organization or by talking to your neighbors about car pooling. You will be doing an enormous part in helping to reduce traffic and toxic emissions, and might even make a few new friends along the way.