Hey DUers! Are you carpooling? If not, why not?

[CTyankee]

I'm interested in knowing how our DU community feels about carpooling.

I myself carpooled for several years when I lived in No. Virginia and worked in D.C. It worked out well as we had one carpool member who had free parking at her office building.

Hubby and I carpooled into work for several years until I retired. He took the bus home. Now he takes the bus both ways.

Carpooling can save you a ton of money. It's especially good in cities where you can use carpool lanes. I liked the conviviality of carpooling also. We even had "carpool counseling," where we could talk about our workplace problems. Carpool "happy hour" didn't work very well, however...

[Midlodemocrat]

1. Nope.

I work from home. :P

[hobbit709]

3. Same here

But I try to coordinate trips with my wife when she's going somewhere.

[jakem]

4. me too!

and hey, look how much work we are both getting done!

[Midlodemocrat]

5. LOL. I know.

If I could only get paid per DU post.

Seriously, though, I fill up my van about once every 2-3 weeks. I combine all my errands, etc.

[kdmorris]

23. Me, too! I just started in March

At first I was afraid I would be bored, but I'm not.

[dysfunctional press]

26. nope.

i don't work- but my wife does, and her commute is 23 miles each way. there isn't anyone with whom she works that lives in our direction, and there isn't anyone we know of in our area who works in the same direction, let alone the same hours.

what's needed are electric cars that can get 50-100 miles on a charge. that alone would take care of the vast majority of commuters. although obviously not all. and if there were the ability to charge it while people were at work, it could expand the range for that many more commuters.

[LaurenG]

2. I carpool and I have since last August

My husband works 4 miles from me so we go together. Sometimes I drop him off and sometimes he drops me off. I think carpooling is great, and of course it's much easier since I know my carpooling companion really well but I'd be willing to take a bus if there was one that didn't take 3 hours and 4 transfers.

[Wetzelbill]

6. I ride the bus

[NeedleCast]

7. Technically Yes

The Subway is like a carpool...

[MattBaggins]

8. Not carpooling

No one lives where I do

[H2O Man]

9. I drive very little.

I'm retired, and usually only drive a few miles per week. My wife works; she and a co-worker carpool.

[liberalmuse]

10. No.

My excuses?

1. I've taken the option of working 4-10's. On my 3rd day off, I've resolved not to drive. My company was one of the sponsors of Al Gore's shindig last year and they're actively working on new ways for us to save energy.

2. I live 3.6 miles from work and have been considering buying a good bike to ride. I had an 'Office Space' moment while waiting in traffic a couple weeks ago watching a middle aged biker in average shape come up from behind and move far ahead of traffic. She apparently works where I do and made it there just slightly ahead of me!

[TheCowsCameHome]

11. My solution was retire, now I don't have to go anywhere.

If I was still working I'd be looking to carpool, though.

[AllieB]

12. I take the commuter rail to work.

It's much less of a hassle than driving in and out of Boston everyday. The train is not cheap, but right now it's cheaper than driving.

[Luminous Animal]

30. Commuter check...

You should ask your company to establish a commuter check program. The Feds allow a pretax deduction of $115 a month for mass transit and $220 a month for parking. If you spend at least $115 a month on the rail, in a year, you won't be taxed on $1380 of income.

[Lex]

13. I live less than 2 miles from my office

so I bike or drive. The last time I put gas in my car was July 8th and I still have 1/2 a tank.

[Kazak]

14. Nope, biking.

:)

[rucky]

15. I work from home...

but sometimes I carry my daughter downstairs. does that count?

[abelenkpe]

16. I drive 16 miles each day total

I would ride my bike if I didn't have two toddlers that needed to ride in car seats. Putting them in a trailer on busy LA streets is not really an option. But many of my co-workers carpool, ride bikes and if they drive own hybrids. I'm proud of them.

[navarth]

17. been carpooling for years.

this being the Motor City, the powers-that-be want you to drive a car. ech. if and when they pull their heads out of their ass they'll build trains.

but yes, I car pool every day. 3 miserable hours of commute 5 days a week.

yeah baby.

[bikebloke]

18. My bike isn't built for two.

But I do see a couple who commute year 'round like me, who ride a tandem. The bloke growls and yells at eejits in cars, while the woman in back gives an apologetic shrug.

[jazzjunkysue]

19. I spend $8/day driving to work. It's my heating bill that's a problem.

People have to get it in perspective. If you drive an efficient little car a reasonable distance, your gas isn't going to hurt you all that much. It's well under $200/month, weekends, included.

But your heating bill at home is. My heating bill is $450/month right now, oct-march. And that's current prices. And that's with being cold in my house most of the time. And it's a really small house and I live downstairs.

So, right now everyone is thinking cars, but really, the heating oil and gas and electric are going to break your budget.

I think we'll all be there before the election.

[stray cat]

20. No one else wants to work 9am to whenever the work is done

[Edweird]

21. No. Not practical.

1. None of my co-workers live anywhere near me.
2. My day does not end at any specific time. It is over when the work is done. It would be impossible to schedule any type of ride share due to inconsistency.
3. I do not report to the same "yard" on an permanent basis. I go where I am needed which may be anywhere in the state, or country depending on storms or other natural disasters.
4. I get to use the carpool lane anyway on my motorcycle. :)

[kdmorris]

22. No, I'm not... I quit my job of 10 year to take a WAH job

So, all I have to do is walk to the back of my house where my office is. And I don't need anyone to carpool with me that far :D

[fortyfeetunder]

24. Having to drive a kid to daycare/school complicates things

I don't know of anyone going same way to work from daycare/school. Figure in a couple of years we can carpool more often. If I am traveling solo, definitely will take the bus to work.

[Subdivisions]

25. I work from home now but when I worked in construction, there

was really no way to carpool. No one I worked with ever lived near enough to me and no one I knew worked anywhere near any construction site I ever worked.

In order for carpool to work, you need a pool of workers that not only work in the vicinity of each other but must also live near each other.

[GCP]

27. I'm a visiting nurse - need my car to make visits

[CTyankee]

28. Bless you! I had visiting nurses every day for 2 months last year at this time.

It was following several abdominal surgeries. I had a big ole incision wound that required daily attending. They took my temperature and blood pressure on each visit. It was wonderful. Thank god for you and the other visiting nurses!

[treestar]

29. I would but my work is such that I can't go from home to the office

and back again at the same time every day. There are many places I have to go in the course of the day, and my first appointments can be at a great variety of locations.

But any job where you stay at the same place for the same hours, I'd surely do it. I'd also use the bus if I had a job in our downtown area that was of like regularity.

[deadmessengers]

31. No.

When I worked in a regular office, my hours were far too irregular, with no viable public transit, leaving my only backup plan as a $130 cab ride. Now, I telecommute.

[Marrah_G]

32. No- I work in a very small office and the other people live in the opposite direction.

[datasuspect]

33. CTA

moved back to chicago two or three weeks ago. left my car in texas.

now i spend $20/week for unlimited travel throughout the metro area and suburbs.

$20 before barely got me a quarter tank.

[Nikia]

34. I live a little more than a mile from work

The closest way there doesn't go past any of my coworkers homes. Yes, I suppose that I could walk or bike, but I'm pregnant (due in Nov.) and unaccustomed to it. It really isn't a good time for me to start, especially since it has been so hot lately and I get warmer much quicker than before I was pregnant.

[Individualist]

35. No

I'm retired.

[LWolf]

36. No.

My working hours aren't regular, and no one I work with lives on my way, or is coming my way. We'd have to drive a longer route to make that happen.

A couple of people DO show up almost as early as I do; I generally get to work at 7am. Sometimes a little earlier or later. None of us have a set time to leave each day; it depends on how much we got done, how much we're taking home to do, and our family responsibilities.

Our contract says that we MUST be there by 8:30 every morning, and stay until at least 4 pm. That doesn't include meetings, which happen before and after that time. It's a given that the job cannot get done within those hours. How and when we choose to do the rest of the job is up to us, and we generally schedule it around our families' needs.

That said, there are a few people who live near each other that DO sychronize their schedules to carpool. Teachers in a rural school, though, tend to come from all over the place to get there. Some live in the town to the south, some live in the little city further south, some live in a little community to the north, or in towns further north, some of us live in unincorporated outlying areas; none of us live in the tiny little town that houses our school building. Few of our students do, either, most coming from ranches and farms in outlying, unincorporated areas. We're spread out all over the map.

While traffic in town is horrific, what with road work and the cancer of suburbia eating up the sleepy little cattle town, I can get the 13.5 miles to work on back roads. No stoplights, 4 stop signs, rarely any traffic at all. It's a peaceful, leisurely drive past pastures, horses, cows, sheep, lots of deer, and public lands. I'm never in a hurry. Why? I don't ever exceed the 45mph speed limit. In the winter, icy roads often slow me down to 15-25 mph for safety's sake.

I'm always on the lookout to transfer to a school closer to home, to cut the miles. Then I'd have to drive through town, which is a pain, but there might be someone to carpool with. The closest schools are 7 and 9 miles away, respectively, with the rest around 10 miles away.

If I could afford it, I've thought about a scooter, but it would be a really frigid ride for most of the year. I have to have something that will handle ice, snow, dirt and gravel roads with potholes, etc.; there's a rather steep short grade up the rough dirt road that leads from the highway to the dirt road I live on.

[Skittles]

37. no

it's impossible with my schedule - I never know if I'll be working 12, 13, 14 hours etc.

[Kickin_Donkey]

38. No. I'm in a relatively small town and live only five miles from work.

My job starts at anywhere from 10 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., depending on the day, and could end 8 work hours later or whenever the work gets done (sometimes after midnight).

Furthermore, sometimes I am required to go out on assignment during the course of my work, so I need my car available.

Biking is impractical at this time of the year, when the temperatures are around 100 degrees, but I might give it a try in the fall when the weather cools off.