Dive into a Carpool

Drivers face gridlock traffic every day, yet single-occupancy vehicles continue to dominate the roadways. Why not share the ride?

DivideTheRide is an online service where families can organize carpool calendars with people they know. Once users enter their schedule of activities and choose the members of their carpool, the website creates a carpool calendar and e-mails it to everyone in the group.

Another option is eRideShare, which connects commuters traveling in the same direction. Members place an ad specifying if they are interested in carpooling for a daytime commute or extended travel, and then search for potential matches.

Some websites include more in-depth personal profiles, allowing carpoolers to, for example, ride with people who share their taste in music. How about a women-only carpool? Carpool CREW attempts to minimize the inconveniences of carpooling, and increase usage, by matching people based on many criteria.

The recent addition of the Carpool application to the social networking site Facebook has brought a carpooling tool to the fingertips of even younger drivers. All of these resources are free, and as carpooling gains popularity in direct proportion to the price of gasoline, it’s becoming easier to find people willing to share the burden of getting from point A to point B.