Carpooling
First fashionable in the oil-shock 70's, carpooling is back as a social and practical way to reduce costs and emissions when travelling by car. Check out the UC carpooling system on Jayride.
About Jayride and UC
The University of Canterbury has a new online carpool scheme to help staff and students get to campus, save money and lower their carbon footprint.
The UC system is built using ridesharing network Jayride.co.nz, a social media platform designed for carpooling which, on any day, has 8000 or more carpools listed across New Zealand.
UC Sustainability Advocate Dr Matt Morris said carpooling was a great way to travel to the University.
“Not only does every carpooler save money on their commute, they also reduce their environmental impact, create less congestion, need fewer car parks and build a stronger community of staff and students.”
The carpool system helps potential carpoolers meet new friends in their neighbourhood who can travel together to the University at times that suit them. If staff and students cannot find a carpool match inside the University, then they can view other carpool groups in the area whether the other groups use the UC system or not.
UC’s carpool system also includes safety and privacy features, links to social media profiles and the ability for drivers to list how much money they would like towards expenses.
“Carpoolers can save around $2400 every year on their commute,” said Rod Bishop, spokesperson for Jayride.co.nz.
“University of Canterbury staff and students will love the money they can save by carpooling.”
Mr Bishop said the network was “excited that University of Canterbury is so actively involved in sustainable actions in Christchurch”.
“We’re looking forward to helping University of Canterbury to build the best carpool network possible.”
For more information about this system at UC, please contact:
Dr Matt Morris
Sustainability Advocate
University of Canterbury
Ph: +64 3 364 3495
matthew.morris@canterbury.ac.nz.
For more information about Jayride.co.nz please contact:
Rod Bishop
Jayride.co.nz
Ph +64 889 0079
rod.bishop@jayride.com
Why carpool?
10 Reasons to Carpool (by Jayride)
Carpooling to work has a lot of benefits. It helps your environment, your economy, your community, and even better it helps you personally to enjoy your commute, travel faster, easier, and save thousands of dollars every year. Want to know more? Here are 10 great reasons to give carpooling a go!
1. Save money on petrol
No one likes to pay for petrol. If you share your petrol bill with just one passenger, then you'll save 50%. That’s a 50% saving on your petrol bill, every time you fill up. If you can save $5 on petrol driving to work then carpooling will save you $2,400 every year.
2. Save money on parking, maintenance, insurance
You car costs you more than just petrol. You also pay for parking, tolls, insurance, repairs, maintenance and even worse your car will eventually depreciate until it's worthless. If you carpool you can reduce all of these costs too.
3. Get to work faster
Do you live near a transit lane? Have you ever watched other cars fly past while you are stuck in traffic? Don't watch them – join them. If you carpool you can drive in transit lanes, wake up later and get home earlier.
4. De-stress
Driving can be stressful. It requires your concentration for hours at a time, but if you carpool then you don't have to drive as often. A University of California study shows you are likely to have lower blood pressure if you carpool: That's a fact!
5. Do more with your time
Driving every day is a waste of your time. Wouldn't you rather be enjoying a conversation, or reading a book? If you carpool you will have more time for those things that you'd rather be doing: You can do them from the passenger seat.
6. Get to know your workmates
Setting up a carpool can help you meet your workmates. You get to meet and talk with other great people from your team, every day. You can turn down that radio and bring a little fun and conversation to your morning drive.
7. Make our community more livable
More cars mean more congestion, and fewer car parks for everyone. It means more traffic noise and pollution around our area. If you carpool then you're helping to improve our community for everyone, including yourself.
8. Support our local economy
90% of the money you spend on petrol goes off shore. Why not support local businesses instead? If you save money by carpooling, that's more money to spend locally to support the people and area you care about.
9. Support our environment
For most people driving is the single biggest contributor to their carbon footprint. This means that cutting down on driving is the biggest action you can take to make your life more sustainable. If your carpool has one passenger, in an average car, on an average commute, you'll avoid 3.2 tonnes of CO2 emissions every year! Carpooling can make a real difference.
10. It's so easy to get started
Now it's easy to get started carpooling. Our workplace carpool system will let you advertise and find a carpool to work with other people who live near you. You can share driving on alternate days, or ask for a contribution towards your expenses, it's easy. To get started just visit our carpool system at Jayride.
Are cars always the fastest and/or cheapest way to commute to the University?
- Check out our Driving to UC Calculator, to see how much your car is costing you.
- Check out the 2003 UC Commuter Challenge results for some interesting time comparisons.
- Check out the UC One Day Challenge
- Check out the EECA and Landtransport NZ's fuelsaver website, which helps you work out vehicle running costs by vehicle type, fuel type and price, distance travelled, and driving habits.
Did you know staff and student car users drove a total estimated 15.5 million kilometres in 2005 commuting to/from the University of Canterbury? That equates to approximately 4000 tonnes of carbon dioxide being emitted to the atmosphere along with unknown levels of other pollutants. It's possible to still be able to drive to UC while reducing your emissions and saving money at the same time...carpool!
UC Rideshare
Please note: the UC Rideshare scheme has been discontinued in it's current form, due to the change of car-parking at the UC. However, we have started a new system with national carpooling experts, Jayride. Click here to get started.