Community Developments

When it comes to saving money on your transportation costs, you don’t need fancy apps, hybrid engines, or autonomous cars. In fact, one of the best ways to start cutting your commute expenses is something that’s been around a long, long time – carpooling.

You don’t need to live on a bus line or a greenway to use alternative transportation; just look to the empty seats in your own car! But how can you get started?

RIDE Solutions has some easy recommendations:

• Stick with Email: It will be more convenient to coordinate with other carpool partners via email rather than by phone. You might even consider creating an email address just for carpool-related correspondence, including correspondence via apps and online services.

• Start at Work: Your ideal carpool partner is probably someone who already works in your building, so start there. Posting a message on an employee message board can get the conversation started. If your employer uses an intranet, talk with your HR or IT departments about creating a digital forum to post rideshare requests and offers.

• Check out Craigslist: The Roanoke Craigslist has a rideshare forum in the Community section of the website. Many of these are for one-way long distance rides, but you can often find daily carpool requests posted here, or post a request yourself. Craigslist’s anonymous relay system also means you don’t have to worry about privacy issues.

• Register with RIDE Solutions: If you'd rather let someone else do the work, register at www.ridesolutions.org and request a ridematch. All you need is your home address, work address, and schedule, and RIDE Solutions can do the rest. You have complete control with how your information is shared by choosing to match only with coworkers or the public, and RIDE Solutions never provides your information to a third party. Once your request is made, you’ll receive a match list of other commuters matching your route and schedule, along with the contact information they’ve provided.  And if you don’t have a match, we keep searching with every new member until we find someone, and we’ll let you know right away when you have a new match.

Carpooling is more than a way to save gas money – it can extend the life of your vehicle and even cut your maintenance costs and insurance rates. Switching vehicles from week to week with other carpool members can cut the annual mileage on your vehicle. Fewer miles on your engine mean a longer life for your car, and many insurance companies offer discounted rates if your annual mileage is 12,000 or lower.

For more information on getting started in a carpool, growing an existing carpool, or managing carpool partners, visit www.ridesolutions.org.