Car Pool? Ride Share? Whatever. It’s a Winner!
A while ago I blogged about ride sharing or carpooling, a way of sharing the cost of a trip with others. It not only saves you money, but helps the environment too – a win-win situation.
Now I car pool here on my little tropical island, but I share rides with friends and people I know. Car pool companies arrange lifts with strangers. My first thought was “what about security?”.
How Do Car Shares Provide Security?
When rideshare.co.uk (now blablacar.com) contacted me about my blog, they were able to put my mind at rest about that. They’ve instituted the following measures:
- e-mail verification
- Users can also authenticate who they are
- People can then opt to take lifts only from verified users.
- There is an option for females to accept only female drivers / passengers.
- They have a Facebook app which lets people accept lifts from people only within their network (e.g. friends only, or friends of friends).
The company told me that on the rare occasion when there is an issue with lateness for example, drivers can be ‘black-listed’, and the Customer Care Team is on hand to assist if there is an issue.
Because of their strong emphasis on security, they have not experienced any issues to date.
On the contrary, carpooling.com say that 170,824 friendships have been made on the road, and there have been at least 6 weddings as a direct result of people meeting via their car share service!
How Much Money Can you Save?
My next question to the company was all about money. With the rising costs of petrol and public transport, car pool options must save money, but how much?
They gave me the following example:
| London to Edinburgh | Distance: 650 km | 400 miles |
| Your cost if you take the train | £80 to £115 | $ 125 to $ 180 by train |
| Your cost if you drive alone | Approx. £75 in petrol | $ 117 |
| Take 2 carpool passengers | They pay £28 each | $ 44 paid by each passenger |
| You save 75% | You pay £19 | $ 30 |
Oh, and they have a Cost Calculator which helps you to calculate an approximate fee for the ride – it’s a guide; you agree the fare before the trip, but it’s great to have guidelines.
There is no registration cost it’s free to search for ride shares.
Name Change
If you’re looking for rideshare.co.uk, it is now renamed https://www.blablacar.com/. Europe’s largest ride sharing network has expanded into the UK market, which has grown massively – the company says this because of:
- Rising fuel prices and public transport costs,
- The credit crunch
- A heightened feeling of environmental responsibility.
This free money-saving option can reduce the cost of driving by up to 75%. Carpooling.com has over 2 million registered users, connects people in 5,000 cities across 45 European countries, and is available in 7 languages. The company has facilitated over 24 million carpools since its launch in 2001!
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Related: some very interesting statistics on ride sharing and car pooling.
This is very interesting information. It is also quite comforting to know that they are taking every possible measure to ensure the safety of those who are carpooling
Dennis
I have to admit that I am a huge consumer of petrol. I spend about $7,000.00 a year fueling my vehicle.
Thanks for the insight Clare on ways to be more eco friendly and reduce costs on fuel consumption.
Thanks to Clare and ecofriendlylink.com/blog for promoting the concept of carpooling.
With 2 million users visiting our sites each month we know there is a great demand for the solution to save money or use collaborative consumption to save the environment. We take security very seriously and want to help you get into car sharing . We hope you will take the time to visit carpooling.co.uk!
Sharing taxis and sharing car rides are a way of life here. Cars are expensive because of the duty to import them. Gas is expensive. So if you are going somewhere by taxi, it is natural to ask if others are going in the same direction ….or if you can pick them something up while you are out!
Sonya Lenzo
Hi Green Goddess,
During the Dot Com boom days commuting to work between San Francisco and Silicon Valley, I did get 2 female riders to share carpooling with. I did all the driving. We arranged certain days and times. The traffic was SO brutal on the commute during that era that many of us were looking to ways to decrease the congestion on the freeways. I wasn’t even thinking in terms of it being green. You do form relationships, acquaintances with the people you carpool with as well. Be sure to phone and lightly vet the people first to protect your personal safety, of course, as well. Maybe I’ll write an article for you on this as a gift. It’s very akin to online dating.
Happy Dating and Relationships,
April Braswell
Only the Queen of Online Dating could liken car pooling to internet romance! 🙂
You’re absolutely right of course – see my next blog …
Could this be used as a way for minors to get around as well, or is it more oriented towards the people who want to save money on their commute? Is this moving into the U.S.?
Mark Hogan
For sure it’s a way of doing the school run if people aren’t served by school buses. It’s already in the US – a simple Google search for car pool or ride share brings up loads of results. Thanks for your comment!
It sounds like carpooling.co.uk is really stepping up. A perk to car pooling in the states is there are usually HOV lanes which can only be used with 2 or more people in them This allows the people to cruise right through when there is a lot of traffic.
Excellent point Kevin – it definitely pays to share! Thanks for a great point!
Clare,
Okay, that’s just awesome! Carpooling to save money and be more green is a great idea – an even better idea what whoever came up with carpooling.com. Thanks for sharing this information.
Stay Extraordinary and Do Great Things, Neil
Another very interesting article. Guess I would always worry that the people I was sharing with wouldn’t want to leave at the exact time I would want to leave at, or vice versa, and then it would all fall apart. But if you agreed to this you’d have to respect the time. Thanks again!
TKS
Clare,
I am still amazed at innovative ways that Facebook can be used. It is wonderful how carpooling companies have addressed safety.
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Didn’t ever think about carpooling so much but your blog definitely shows that they’ve put some thought & safety concerns into it, which is great.
Michael
It sounds like the idea of carpooling is becoming more popular. That’s great for so many reasons, both environmental and practical.
Cherie Miranda
It does make a lot of sense to carpool in the bigger centres . Brisbane has T2 lanes on some of the freeways to be used by cars with two occupants only . Lanes are monitored by cameras . Generally only operate in that manner in peak hours .
[…] Ride Share / Car Pool / Car Share […]
In my area, in the morning during commute hours, there are designated areas usually by mass transit stations, where drivers can pick up riders for a ride over to San Francisco. The advantage is that the driver can use the carpool lane which is much faster and cheaper than the regular toll booth, and the riders can get a free ride and forego the use of a car.
This blog has highlighted a very important point that is security. It is best to share ride with people you know. Carpooling services provider are offering great option to ensure the security of passengers.