[INFORMATIVE] Carpooling: Effective in reducing pollutant emissions?

Carpooling: Effective in reducing pollutant emissions?

By Mansi Kumbhare

What is carpooling?
Carpooling is the sharing of car journeys so that more than one person travels in a car, preventing the need for others to drive to a location themselves. Carpooling is considered a Demand-Responsive Transport (DRT) service.

By having more people using one vehicle, carpooling reduces each person’s travel costs such as fuel costs, tolls, and the stress of driving. Carpooling is also a more environmentally friendly and sustainable way to travel as sharing journeys reduces air pollution, carbon emissions, traffic congestion on the roads, and the need for parking spaces. Authorities often encourage carpooling for these above-mentioned efficient ways of conserving resources and making a change for the betterment of the Earth. Carpooling is especially light upon during periods of high pollution or high fuel prices.

Also known as car-sharing, it is also an excellent way to utilize the full capacity of a car, which would otherwise remain unused if it were just the driver using the car which leads to the underutilization of the car.

How does carpooling work?
Drivers and passengers offer and search for journeys/rides through one of the several mediums available to the public. After finding a suitable match, they contact each other to arrange any details for the journey. The main topics of agreement are costs, meeting points, and space for luggage. They then meet and carry out their shared car journey as previously agreed upon. Carpooling is commonly and most often implemented for commuting but is increasingly popular for longer one-off journeys, with the formality and regularity of arrangements varying between journeys.

Carpooling is not always arranged for the whole length of a journey. Especially on longer journeys, it is common for passengers to only join for parts of the journey, and give contributions or suitable fare prices to be paid based on the distance that they travel. This gives carpooling extra flexibility and enables more people to share journeys and save money.

What are the rules for carpooling?
When talking about carpooling, there are no hard and fast rules that need not be broken or assumptions as such. Though there are a few guidelines that when kept in mind will prove to be beneficial for the smooth sailing of a carpool. The needful guidelines are as follows:
1. Create a schedule with complete contact information, pick-up locations, and times.

2. Effective communication: Establish a reliable way to communicate with your carpool group.

3. Flexible scheduling: While consistency is ideal, flexibility is crucial.

4. Efficient route planning: Optimize your route to minimize travel time and maximize fuel efficiency.

5. Safety first: No doubt, safety is and should always be paramount in carpooling.

What are the benefits of carpooling?
In an era of growing environmental concerns, carpool has emerged as a practical and effective solution to mitigate the adverse impacts of individual transportation on our planet Earth. This eco-friendly process not only reduces carbon emissions but also offers a pyramid of environmental benefits that contribute to a cleaner, healthier world.

The mighty benefits of carpooling are as follows:
1. Reducing fuel consumption: Carpooling is an effective way to reduce gasoline consumption, aiding in the conservation of non-renewable energy sources like gasoline and diesel. Compared to passenger cars, SUVs typically consume more fuel, with around 915 gallons annually for the latter.

Combating global pollution: Our ability to filter out sound protects us from the effects of noise pollution, and water purification safeguards us from water contamination. However, we lack control over the air we breathe, making air pollution particularly concerning. Carpooling plays a crucial and extremely important role in reducing air pollution by decreasing the number of vehicles on the road.

Saving energy and reducing carbon footprint: Sharing petrol expenses among regular commuters saves on fuel costs and reduces cars on the road, thus lowering your carbon footprint and benefiting the environment. Studies indicate that carpooling reduces individual carbon emissions significantly, cutting transportation emissions in half when commuting to work.

Alleviating traffic congestion: One of the major benefits of carpooling for the environment is alleviating traffic congestion. Mitigating congestion not only lessens carbon, air, and noise pollution but also reduces the annoyance of car honking and excessive vehicle noise. Carpooling, with its shared rides, effectively makes sure to manage traffic as well.

Other forms of carpooling
There are several other forms in which carpooling exists be it formal or informal. The forms are as follows:
Slugging is a form of ad hoc, informal carpooling between strangers. No money changes hands, but a mutual benefit still exists between the driver and passenger(s) making the practice worthwhile.

Flexible carpooling expands the idea of ad hoc carpooling by designating formal locations for travelers to join carpools.

3. Ridesharing companies allow people to arrange ad hoc rides on very short notice, through the use of smartphone applications or the internet. Passengers are simply picked up at their current location.

Cost sharing in carpooling
Carpooling usually means dividing the travel expenses equally between all the occupants of the vehicle (driver or passenger). The driver does not try to earn money, but to share with several people the cost of a trip he/she would do anyway. The expenses to be divided include fuel and all possible tolls. But if we include in the calculation the depreciation of the vehicle purchase and maintenance, insurance, and taxes paid by the driver, we get a cost of around $1/mile. Some platforms facilitate carpooling by connecting people seeking respectively passengers and drivers. Usually, there is a fare set up by the car driver and accepted by passengers because they get an agreement before the trip starts.

Initiatives of carpooling
To reduce traffic and encourage carpooling, some governments have introduced high-occupancy vehicle (HOV) lanes in which only vehicles with two or more passengers are allowed to drive. HOV lanes can create strong practical incentives for carpooling by reducing travel time and expenses. In many countries, it is very common to find parking spaces reserved for carpoolers.

In 2011, an organization called Greenxc created a campaign to encourage others to use this form of transportation to reduce their carbon footprint. Carpooling, or car sharing as it is called in British English, is promoted by a national UK charity, Carplus, whose mission is to promote responsible car use to alleviate financial, environmental, and social costs of motoring today, and encourage new approaches to car dependency in the UK. Carplus is supported by Transport for London, the British government initiative to reduce congestion and parking pressure and contribute to relieving the burden on the environment and to the reduction of traffic-related air pollution in London.

Conclusion
In conclusion, carpooling is a smart, sustainable choice for modern commuters. It significantly reduces our environmental impact and cuts costs, while fostering community. With proper scheduling, communication, and vehicle selection, carpooling's challenges are easily navigated. If you're seeking a positive change in your daily commute, consider carpooling.
It's more than a ride; it's a step towards a greener, more connected future.
Let’s opt for more eco-friendly alternatives for transportation to make the environment a healthy and thriving place to live in.
Let’s be better for the future generations.
Let’s be environmentalists!


Citations
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Bolt, O. (2023, November 17). 15 Benefits of carpooling to society and environment. Energy Theory. https://energytheory.com/benefits-of-carpooling-for-the-environment/

Car-Pooling declines as driving becomes cheaper - Interactive feature - NYTimes.com. (2011, January 29). https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/interactive/2011/01/29/us/20110129-nat-CARPOOL.html?ref=us

Dr. Mark W. Burris. (n.d.). https://sites.google.com/tamu.edu/mburris

Wayback machine. (n.d.). https://web.archive.org/web/20200216101136/http://www.motiva.fi/files/4138/WP2_Final_Report.pdf

Eriehle_Admin. (2023, June 26). What is . . . demand-responsive transport (DRT)? Ioki. https://ioki.com/en/what-is-demand-responsive-transport-drt/

GreenXC | Driving cross-country to protect our National Forests. (n.d.). https://web.archive.org/web/20110604123410/http://greenxc.com/