Family Tips: 3 Reasons Why Carpooling is Cool
By: Fiona Applebee
So driving your own car means that you get to take the route you want, stop off on the way, and come home when you feel like it. You’re not stuck in a metal box having to socialize with people you’ve got nothing in common with, or trying to keep a number of grade school kids from killing themselves as you drive them to and from school. However, when you think more closely about it, carpooling is cool! Why? Here are three great reasons:
1. It’s good for the environment. In today’s culture of everyone needing to do their bit to undo all the mess we’ve made of our environment through pollution, carpooling is one of the least invasive ways in terms of time that you can be pulling your green weight. Not to mention it allows you to take a green stand whilst at the same time helping your budget. By taking 3 cars off the road, the green footprint is lighter. Take that over a town, a city, a state, a country and think about how much less pollution is going to be in the air over the course of even one year.
2. Carpooling helps your budget. Gas is currently guzzling twice as many dollars as it used to and if you need to watch the cents, then it’s possible that carpooling could be the answer to your prayers. Whether you’re carpooling kids to school, or you’re doing the daily commute to work, taking your turn on a carpool rota is going to significantly cut the cost of getting around. You could even set up a carpooling system for any after-school activities that your kids are involved in. Even if you have to use your car once a week instead of two, that’s one round trip of gas you’re saving.
3. Unless you’re anti-social, carpooling is a great way of getting to know people better. It could be that you carpool with neighbors who work in the same general location as you, or with work colleagues who may need picked up from places along a route, but all end up at the same destination. Often adults are so busy organizing work, home and family matters that they don’t get time to just chat. Carpooling is one way of fitting that into your schedule without it affecting anything else. If you’re carpooling grade school kids, then you’ll find that slowly you’ll get to know your child’s peers and friends, but also have some insight into how your child interacts socially with others. Of course the kids will think carpooling is cool because they get to spend extra time with their friends.
As both the environmental and financial pictures become worse, carpooling is something that can help everyone. If you’ve never considered it before, check out if there are any family city carpooling rotas in your area, and if there aren’t, why not start one of your own!
