What is casual carpooling?

Casual carpooling is a hybrid of rideshare commuting and hitchhiking in which carpools are formed spontaneously, for example, at park and ride lots.

How long has casual carpooling been around?

It could be argued that casual carpooling has been around almost as long as the automobile.  In the early days of automobiles, Americans would often stand by the side of busy roads holding signs indicating their destination.  Riders would typically give the driver who picked them up a nickel or some other modest payment.

Casual carpooling in its modern form – commuters meeting at park and ride lots and catching rides with drivers who need a passenger or passengers to use high occupancy vehicle (HOV) lanes – dates back over thirty years in the San Francisco Bay area.  Casual carpooling began around the same time in the Washington, DC area with the advent of HOV lanes in 1971.  Drivers wishing to use the HOV lanes would offer rides to commuters waiting at bus stops.

That sounds an awful lot like hitchhiking.  My mother always warned me to not hitchhike or pick up hitchhikers.  Is casual carpooling safe?

The California Highway Patrol and San Francisco area police, when asked in 2005 by SFGate.com, said they could not recall any major crimes associated with the casual carpool system in the over thirty years of the practice in the Bay area.

The rarity of crime related to casual carpooling does not mean you can throw caution to the wind.  As always, women should be cautious about riding alone with men they do not know.  Anyone should use his/her good judgment and never get into a car with someone if he/she is suspicious of the driver’s intentions.

How does this site differ from dozens of other carpool sites?

Presently, casual carpooling is primarily practiced by people commuting to downtown areas of large cities having HOV lanes.  Those cities also tend to have well-developed mass transit systems that provide an alternate way of getting back home.

Having no HOV lanes, the same incentives to form casual carpools are not present in most places.  This site is an effort to bring the benefits of casual carpooling to smaller cities and towns.

How does mycasualcarpool.com facilitate formation of casual carpools?

Mycasualcarpool.com allows users to propose park and ride lots and determine the feasibility of using the parking lot based on the number of people who would use the lot.  Without the HOV lanes, there must be another incentive to get drivers to go to the park and ride lot and pick up commuters. 

What do you mean by “a particular route?”

Mycasualcarpool.com is mainly intended for arranging park and ride lots from a residential neighborhood to a large facility or group of businesses located in a small area.  Many areas have one or more large employers, and many people in the same neighborhoods are leaving for work at those facilities around the same time.  Similarly, many people from the same suburban neighborhood are traveling to the same downtown area every morning and returning around the same time every evening.  Those are the “particular routes” for which mycasualcarpool.com intends to facilitate the formation of casual carpools.

Rather than creating park and ride lots, why not just help people traveling similar routes at similar times find each other to form carpools?

Unfortunately, most carpools end up having someone who tends to oversleep, resulting in delays for everyone that ultimately result in the end of the carpool.  With park and ride lots, passengers take the first available ride offered and drivers pick up the first commuters in line waiting for a ride.  With as few as 15-20 drivers for a park and ride lot during rush hour, passengers should never have to wait more than a few minutes for a ride.

How do users find park and ride lots in their neighborhoods?

Most neighborhoods have one or more churches or other houses of worship with large parking lots that are rarely used during normal business hours.  Most large local employers have one or more employees attending almost every church in the area.  Those employees know or can find out who to talk to in order to obtain permission to form a park and ride lot.  Other possible places to look are shopping centers and big box stores that always seem to have a lot of empty spaces.  In any event, always obtain permission before using the lot for a park and ride lot.  The principle of mycasualcarpool.com is that the people doing the commuting know best what works for them and know their neighborhoods far better than any central planner trying to get people to sign up for 15 person van-pools.

How do I convince my church or the local shopping center to grant permission to use their lot?

Figure out what they have to gain.  Many churches have daycare centers.  Point out how allowing commuters to use the lot will make it convenient for those commuters to drop off and pick up their children from the daycare center.  The goodwill and exposure the church will receive as a result of granting permission to commuters to use the lot might be a good way to increase attendance.  It is possible that the church might want to charge a small fee for commuter parking, but they must be careful to abide by local laws regulating commercial parking lots.

If a shopping center usually has lots of empty parking spaces, it might welcome commuters, hoping some of them will patronize the businesses at the beginning and/or end of their daily commutes.

What do I have to gain as a driver by picking up commuters?

Although you really cannot charge money for offering rides without getting into insurance and licensing issues,the site allows those proposing rideshare lots to suggest contributions towards your driving expenses.  A driver with a van or large SUV might be able to carry 5 passengers back and forth to work.  At only $3 per passenger each way, a driver could receive as much as $30/day or $7500/year toward his driving expenses.

What do I have to gain as a passenger?

I am sure I don’t have to tell any commuter about the high price of gas.  At $3/gallon, a round-trip commute of 50 miles would result (for a typical car) in a cost of gasoline alone equivalent to twice the hypothetical $3 per passenger in each direction mentioned in the previous question.  That is only part of the cost of driving.  Driving more miles results in increased insurance premiums; increased spending on tires, brakes, oil, lubrication, and other maintenance; and shorter service life of the car.  In some cases, a family may even be able to get by with one less car (or a less expensive car) as a result of casual carpooling.  If you commute to the downtown area of almost any major city, you probably have to pay for parking – in some cases as much as $40/day.  Rather than increasing your blood pressure fighting traffic, you can use the commute to catch up on sleep, read, relax, etc.

How do I get co-workers interested in casual carpooling?

Although it is not necessary to get your employer involved at all in forming casual carpools, it certainly helps.  Tell your HR department about this site and your interest in setting up park and ride lots for you and your fellow employees.  It won’t take much effort for them to send an e-mail providing a link to mycasualcarpool.com and encouraging all employees to look into the advantages of casual carpooling and sign up at mycasualcarpool.com if interested in participating.  If they are not willing to send an e-mail, you might be able to post a notice about the site in a common area.

Why should my employer encourage casual carpooling?

Does your employer have enough parking or have to lease parking spaces?  Explain that casual carpooling will reduce demand for parking space.  Explain that casual carpooling would probably result in fewer employees being late – arriving late at a park and ride lot might result in a would-be passenger having to drive himself, while a driver might end up losing contributions to his driving expenses from passengers by arriving late.  Passenger employees will tend to arrive better rested and more relaxed as a result of sleeping or relaxing during the commute rather than fighting traffic.  Is your company having problems keeping qualified employees?  Casual carpooling will result in being able to hire employees from farther away as their commuting expenses are reduced.

The site has a lot of information about forming carpools to get TO work.  How do I get back to the park and ride lot at the end of the day?

The same people driving to work will also be driving back at the end of the day.  Formal carpools to get home are easier to keep together as most people are much better about leaving work on time than arriving on time.  Thus, one option is to use formal carpools for return trips, with back-up rides should the usual driver stay late or leave early.

Another option is to arrange a place for passengers to wait for cars going to a particular park and ride lot, with drivers possibly posting signs in their windows indicating the destination park and ride lot.  With such a system, it is good for each passenger to have a back-up means of getting home in case circumstances result in their arriving late at the pick-up point.

As with proposing park and ride lots, the people involved know best what will work for them.  Mycasualcarpool.com offers a place for people using a particular park and ride lot to post information about return trips.

What if I don’t want to accept contributions toward my driving expenses?

Most people will prefer riding with you.

What if I don’t want to give a contribution toward a driver’s expenses?

Most people will not be glad to see you, but will not kick you out of their cars.

Are there people who should not use mycarpool.com?

If you do not work regular hours, or if you have few co-workers in an isolated area, you will probably not find mycarpool.com very useful.

Can a single park and ride lot be used by employees with different destinations?

Yes.  Just make sure there are enough parking spaces for everyone and that it is clear where each rider and driver is going.  That may involve using signs or setting aside different areas of the parking lot for different employers.

What are the rules and etiquette for casual carpooling?

The rule of thumb is to be considerate of others – the Golden Rule we (hopefully) learned from our parents.  The following are guidelines that can be followed or ignored according to the wishes of people using a particular park and ride lot:

• Do not litter the park and ride lots.  Most likely, someone is allowing you to use the lot for free.  Do not risk everyone losing that privilege because of your sloppiness.
• Allow the driver to initiate conversations.  There are many reasons to limit talking among a driver and passengers, including:  many are really not interested in getting to know the other person, but only want a quiet ride to work and home; some passengers may be looking to catch up on their reading and the driver may want to listen to the radio or his music.
• In any conversations that DO occur, avoid controversial topics.  Especially avoid gossip about co-workers, bosses, etc.  Such talk can only harm one’s career and cause bad feelings.
• Don’t carry on conversations on your cell phone.  A call indicating you are on your way and anticipated arrival time may be fine, but fellow riders rarely want to know what you did last weekend or your plans for the evening.
• Understand that many women will not be comfortable being the only woman in a car, and tend to be more cautious than men in accepting rides.  If a woman does not want to ride with you, do not try to convince her otherwise.  It will only add to her apprehension.  The decision of ANY rider – male or female - who does not want to ride with you should be respected.  It could be that they are waiting for a friend, so do not take it personally.
• No smoking, eating, or drinking in the car.
• Riders do not ask the driver to change the radio station or adjust the climate control.  Nor does a rider open or close a window.  You might consider bringing a sweater if you tend to like it warmer than most people.  Personal CD and MP3 players are inexpensive.  It is easy enough to bring your own music, books on CD, etc.

How should I describe my “destination” when signing up?

 

First, look at all listings in your zip code and see if any of the destinations already listed are within walking distance of your destination.  If so, choose that destination and do not enter a new destination.  The secret of creating a casual carpool rideshare lot is to find as many potential riders and drivers as possible going to the same area at the same time.  Using multiple descriptions for the same area makes it difficult to organize a rideshare lot.  If you are entering a new destination, enter a description that is as broad as possible, while still only covering an area that is a short walk from one end to the other.  The name should be recognizable to others working in the area.  Do you work at a mall?  List the name of the mall rather than the particular business.  If you work at an office park, list the name of the office park rather than your particular employer.  If you work at a well-defined small area of town such as a financial district, a square, etc., list the most commonly used description of that area so that others signing up will recognize it.

 

What steps are involved in proposing a rideshare lot?

• Determine if your destination and schedule are conducive to formation of casual carpools.
• Check out possible sites for rideshare lots, focusing on parking lots that are largely empty during the week and are in convenient locations for large numbers of commuters.
• Once you find a good potential rideshare lot, find out whose permission you need to use the lot.  Discuss with that person what you want to do, pointing out the potential advantages to the owner of the use of the property as a rideshare lot – you might want to direct them to MyCasualCarpool.com to help them understand the concept.  If the person in charge of the property is agreeable, make sure he/she understands that the proposal to use the property as a rideshare lot is only tentative at this point.
• Once you have permission from the person in charge of the proposed rideshare lot, enter information about the lot on your profile.  Put any information you think would be helpful to potential users of the rideshare lot – number of parking spaces available, whether a shelter is available, if a daycare center is convenient, etc.  Another very useful bit of information is a suggested per rider contribution to drivers.  A good rule of thumb might be half the marginal cost to the driver of providing the ride in one direction, the marginal cost being the cost of fuel for an average vehicle (estimate 25 mpg) and any charges for parking.  While this may seem excessive, this only represents a portion of the driver’s actual expenses due to increased wear and tear, etc., on the driver’s vehicle.  This amount can be adjusted depending on costs of fuel and parking, and based on whether there are too many or not enough drivers responding.
• Determine how many people registered on MyCasualCarpool.com are potential users of the rideshare lot by clicking on the link at the bottom of your profile page.
• If you feel there are enough (Estimate at least 20-25, but more is better) potential users, send an e-mail out to all potential users.  This e-mail is sent by clicking the link at the bottom of the profile page, and then clicking the lower left hand “send” button on the page that comes up showing the number of potential users.  The page will keep a tally on the lower right hand side of how many users to whom you sent the e-mail are definitely interested in using the rideshare lot.  The e-mail will include a link to the page with information on the rideshare lot. 
• Once enough people have expressed an interest, send a second e-mail using the lower right hand “send” button at the bottom of the page showing the number of potential users.  Before sending that e-mail, the rideshare lot information should be updated with a proposed start date for the lot and any additional helpful information.

 

The first day of the rideshare lot is here.  What do I do?

 

Since you will not know for a while how popular the rideshare lot will be or what the mix of drivers and riders will be, show up ready to drive to your destination even if you are looking for a ride.  If no ride shows up for a while, any waiting riders can decide among themselves who will drive the others.  It will be good to arrive early at the beginning so you can wait for a ride or riders.  Once there are enough users to keep the rideshare lot going, word should get around and others will almost certainly participate.