car pooling - something to ponder

esupi

Hi everyone.Something I’ve been thinking a lot about recently – I’ve run it past a few friends, and in general they immediately start thinking of all the potential problems. I reckon you moneysavers might be a bit more open-minded though so thought I’d run it by you and see what response I get.My street is mostly made up of houses with a garage, and driveway for one car. Now – nobody actually puts a car in the garage any more, with the result that most houses have one car on the drive and one on the street. There isn’t really room for this, and it’s messy and dangerous to my mind.I am part of a two-car household, but have also recently been reconsidering our need for the second car. Basically, we only really need it one evening a week, and two weekend days out of the month. That suddenly make our whole second car seem very expensive! Really, we need, say, one and a quarter cars.So I’ve been wondering how many other households really only need ‘one and a half’ cars, rather than two? And how many people in the flats can’t justify buying a car, but would like to have maybe ‘half a car’ for occasional use.I think that if everyone were to consider this, and if people we prepared to TRUST their neighbours (I know, first major hurdle), then by sharing the resources out a bit we could get by with many fewer cars – for example 3 cars between two houses would be a good start.I stumbled across this website http://www.yours2share.com/articles/running-an-informal-car-club.shtml which outlines some of the practicalities of how to do it, and I honestly think if everyone involved has the right attitude and wants to make it work, it really could. Obviously there will be small inconveniences, but then you have to offset that against the cost/carbon saving.I’m wondering if anyone is involved in a similar scheme? Is there a precedent for it? What would be your immediate concerns (please read the site first as I believe this covers many of the obvious questions)? Has anyone else ever tried to set up anything similar? Who wouldn’t rather be paying for part of a car than a whole one? etc etc.Let me know your thoughts! Idealistic, or something worth approaching the neighbours with?!Thanks!esupi:)

esupi

apologies for the lack of paragraphs - it didn't look like this before I hit 'post' (and I'm new to the site).

spiro

esupi wrote: »

apologies for the lack of paragraphs - it didn't look like this before I hit 'post' (and I'm new to the site).

You can edit you original post and add paragraphs if you want. You should see an edit button on the bottom right of every post you make.

esupi

thanks Spiro. I did try, but it didn't work - I will have another look at home later today.

BillScarab

You could just have one car and join a car club so another is availabel when you need it.

The problem with sharing with neighbours is that the time you want a second car is likely to be when they do too.

esupi

Car clubs are a good idea in theory. I have considered them and ruled out for the following reasons. 1. There isn't one on my estate. ok, so that sounds defeatist, but I would need a car one evening a week, and by the time I returned it to its designated spot, it would be too difficult to get home by public transport (1 bus per hour by then!).2. They don't allow open-jaw journeys - so I can't pick one up to go somewhere from work, and then drop it off closer to home.3. If you want to use one for a day out, they actually work out expensive!I think they work for city-dwellers, but they need to expand massively before they're viable for the majority.I think most people could find someone suitable to share with. For example, 2-car family - mum and dad drive to separate places of work during the day ....evenings and weekends the family is either all out together, or at least one parent is at home with the kids - they mostly use one car out of working hours. young professionals living in flats can probably get to work and back without a car, but would like use of one for socializing evenings/weekends. they could share therefore. ok - i'm over-simplifying, but hopefully I make sense...