As Long as You Carpool

A few weeks ago, I saw the Backstreet Boys in concert for the second time in my life. However, that’s not the exciting part.

The exciting part is that I carpooled to the show.

Instead of driving solo and meeting my friends at the show, I suggested we carpool.

The venue was 30 minutes from my house, so we all met at my house first, piled into two cars, and headed to the show. We left three cars at home to rest. By doing this, we saved at least $20 in gas and roughly 135 pounds of CO2.

By having my friends in the car with me, I didn’t look like such a fool when I sang my lungs off and danced to “As Long as You Love Me” and “I Want It That Way” on the way to the show. They did the same, so I appeared normal. That’s another perk of carpooling.

Once we arrived at the venue, the new amphitheater in downtown Raleigh, it was easier to park, since there were only two cars, not five. We didn’t have to circle around the parking lot, looking for five parking spaces in close proximity to each other. We also saved money on parking deck fees.

By carpooling to the event, we also helped decongest traffic after the show. We were able to work our way through the exiting traffic faster than we would have if each of us drove a separate vehicle.

Even though this carpool experience was with friends and not strangers, it is a step towards warming up to the idea of carpooling.

With services like AlterNetRides at NC State, GreenRide at Duke and Zipcar at UNC-Chapel Hill and Duke, carpooling is now convenient on campuses. Try it out and let us know how it goes.