Carpool
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carpool glossary
Carpooling (also known as ride-sharing, lift-sharing), is shared use of a car, in particular for commuting to work, often by people who each have a car but travel together to save costs and in the interest of other socio-environmental benefits mentioned below. There are sometimes special facilities for carpoolers, including designated pick-up points and high-occupancy vehicle lanes which are also at times opened up to designated cars with multiple riders. Carpool projects have been around in fairly structured form going back to the mid-seventies, and in recent years have begun to make much more extensive use of the internet and software support systems. With the recent advent of mobile phones and SMS, there is a push to integrate these technologies into more flexible systems on the web. Ride sharing is an alternative to get to and connect with people at other large events, such as music festivals and conferences.
Carpools may be formed through word of mouth by friends and colleagues, or through online carpooling services. There is also another system, car sharing, which is often mistaken with carpooling.
Advnatages
- Carpools save money. When one shares a car/vehicle with other commuters he or she saves on fuel cost, parking cost and vehicle maintenance cost.
- Carpools decongest roads.
- Carpools reduce pollution and carbon dioxide emissions thereby reducing global warming.
- Carpools reduces driving related stress for participants who are not driving on a specific ride. The participants take turns sharing their vehicles and driving with others.
- Higher occupancy rates also can reduce consumption of oil thereby reducing corresponding political and economic risks, emissions of greenhouse gases, common pollution.
- Carpools save considerable expenses from gasoline, oil, tires, car depreciation, tolls, parking, and in some cases insurance.
- Carpools may provide social connections in an increasingly disconnected society. New online carpooling services are offering new ways to make social connections through discussion sites and custom ridesharing services.
- Some larger carpools offer "sweeper services" of late pick-up options for people having to stay longer at work. One form of backup is an arrangement with a local taxi company.
- There are designated carpool lanes on highways (usually called High-Occupancy Vehicle, or HOV, lanes), which may make travel faster.
Disadvantages
- Drivers carry the additional burden of potential legal action from passengers in case of an accident.
- Carpooling combines many of the disadvantages of public transportation (lack of privacy, not on-demand) with the disadvantages of the automobile (low safety, high fuel consumption).
- Tends to be rather complicated to organise seriously and are difficult to keep together, due not least to changing travel patterns and needs.
- Any appointments or other things someone in the carpool has to do will make the other person/people in the carpool have to wait, or will make the schedule drastically change.
See also
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