Carpooling is the sharing of a car ride so that more than one person rides to a destination in a single vehicle. It is a popular choice among people that live near each other and either work in the same building or in nearby locations. There are several advantages and a few disadvantages to consider if you are thinking about carpooling.
Advantages
1. Saves Money
There is a bunch of ways that carpooling can save money. For instance, it saves you money on the cost of parking and gas. You can cut your expenses in half – maybe more, simply by carpooling. The more people you share a ride with, the more you will save. Carpooling also helps reduce the costs of new roads, air pollution reduction, health costs related to pollution and road maintenance, not to mention the money that you will save on routine car maintenance.
2. Environmental Benefits
The average American will spend over 430 hours driving annually. This means that one single passenger car emits approximately 10 thousand pounds of carbon dioxide, 600 pounds of carbon monoxide and uses approximately 550 gallons of gasoline annually. By carpooling and having fewer cars on the road we can reduce the greenhouse gas emissions and improve the quality of our air.
3. Health Benefits
Air pollution caused by vehicles accounts for a number of health related conditions including neurological effects, allergies, cardiovascular disease and respiratory diseases. By cutting back on pollution, some of these illnesses can be avoided.
4. Convenience
Carpooling is convenient. If you can carpool with other employees from your place of work, you can all ride in together. If it is not your turn to drive, you can use the time to eat breakfast, sleep, or prepare for that early morning meeting. In cities where highways have a faster carpool lane, you can drive in that line and deal with less traffic during rush hour.
5. New Friendships
Carpooling offers the opportunity to ride with someone else so that you have companionship while driving. It provides you with less stress and makes you feel safer since people tend to drive more carefully when there are others in the vehicle with them. It is a great way to get to know other people outside of work and learn about them.
Disadvantages
1. Lunch Break
If you want to out to lunch or run errands during your lunch break, you will not be able to if it was not your turn to drive.
2. Emergencies
If you have a family or other type of emergency, you will not have your own vehicle available to drive home. You will either have to find a ride or take a taxicab. Additionally, if you are the one who did the driving you will be responsible for the other participants if you do have to leave for an emergency.
3. Inconvenient
If you want to run some errands on your way home, you cannot. You will have to leave work exactly when the person doing the driving is leaving or when they arrive to pick you up.
4. Exposure to Illnesses
Driving with other people will expose you to all of their germs and viruses that they may have. This is an easy way to catch something, especially during the cold and flu season.
5. Not always worth it
If your work schedule dictates that you work odd hours, stay for a lot of overtime or come in extremely early, trying to carpool may not be worth it. If you live a few blocks from work or extremely far away in a rural area, it may not make sense to carpool.
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