It’s been a long time since I left the house and hit the road during rush hour. Uggh. Normally it takes me about 25 minutes to drive the 30 miles from Southaven to Mid-town. Today, during rush hour? Nearly an hour.
And the thing I noticed is that I passed car after car after car with only one occupant. Does anyone remember carpooling?
I remember back during the energy crisis (1970s) when gasoline reached the unheard of price of 75 cents a gallon, my dad started carpooling with a couple of other guys in his office. Some weeks my dad would park his car near the interstate and catch a ride with a co-worker, other weeks, they’d catch a ride with him.
It dawned on me today how much better off everyone would be, if they’d just carpool. I passed a service station today selling gas at $1.96 a gallon. If I were driving the 40 miles roundtrip I used to drive while working for “the man” that’d probably cost me 45 bucks a month. Carpool with just one other person=half that.
Plus, think of how much easier the drive to work would be if just 25% of people carpooled, that’d be 25% fewer cars on the highway. 25% less gasoline usage and quicker commutes.
Why haven’t we heard one company, media outlet or advertising campaign promoting carpooling? We’ve got an extra lane devoted to carpoolers, but it sure doesn’t seem like anyone takes advantage it.
Is it because we like to have control? Control over when we leave work, where we go after work. Is it because we just don’t want someone else to have control (the steering wheel) over us?
Let’s have at least one media outlet get behind an effort to promote carpooling! They’ve done crazier things.
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