When it comes to the daily commute into work, you may fancy yourself a bit of a lone wolf—just you, the road ahead, and a bumpin’ playlist.
That said, humans are social creatures. Maybe it’s time for the lone wolf to consider joining a pack—a carpool pack, that is!
Studies show carpoolers are more satisfied with their commutes than solo drivers and a whopping 45% of solo drivers only drive alone because they can’t find anyone to carpool with.
With that in mind, we present five ways that carpooling can make your life better, one ride at a time.
- Carpooling gets you home in time for dinner but it’s flexible, too!
Hours can fly by at work. It’s easy to get caught up in a project, and push on ‘til it’s finished; it’s also easy to forget about making time for you (and your family) when the working day is through.
While sacred rules of the carpool can help get us out from behind the desk, technology gives us extra flexibility to make carpooling work. Some workplaces even participate in emergency ride home programs that reimburse you for rides home in the event of an unexpected late stay in the office.
- Carpool lanes are, on the whole, faster.
No matter how tedious, seemingly endless, maddening or happiness-slaying rush hour traffic seems, there’s one fact drivers cannot exist: they aren’t in traffic, they are traffic. Studies suggest that Canadians spend upwards of 84 hours annually in gridlock.
That’s a lot of time spent staring jealously at the vehicles zipping on past you in the carpool lane. Or you could make your life that much easier by buddying up, transforming yourselves from “problems” to “solutions” in one fell swoop. Just make sure everybody has a pulse!
- Carpooling will save you money on gas.
Let’s do some basic math: if you’re driving alone to work every day, it stands to reason that you’re paying for gas each and every one of those days. That’s money coming out of your pocket five days a week. The government of Ontario reports regular commuting can cut your fuel costs by 50%, on top of the fuel savings of your vehicle in motion, rather than idling in traffic. Which means that’s three days where you can spend your bucks on the things that really matter.
- Carpooling helps the environment, and your health too!
This one may be a given: the more people you have carpooling, the fewer cars you’ve got on the road at any given time, meaning less pollution. Plus, the resources dedicated to helping carpoolers help buses, taxis, and green vehicles too. Moving more efficient vehicles quickly benefits us all. But mostly you.
It’s no big secret that commuting is tough on your body. Commuting in heavy traffic is known to cause increases in cortisol, a stress hormone, not to mention reported links to higher blood sugar, feelings of isolation and depression, and anxiety.
Hop in the car with a few colleagues and take your turn in the passenger seat. See if cutting one or two days of driving out of your week doesn’t result in a clearer mind and healthier body!
- Carpooling makes you friends that last a lifetime.
If you’re ready to finally stop driving solo and get into the social groove, something magical and profound may begin to happen: you’ll begin to see that you and your fellow carpoolers are all travellers on the same wondrous journey through life.
The shared experiences as you all buckle in together—the triumphs, the failures, the laughter, the tears, the honesty, the snacks, the joy, pain, and happiness—will help form a deep, unbreakable bond that will endure as the seasons turn, turn, turn from one to the next. Friendship, truly thy name is Carpooling.