http://www.thestate.com/local/story/442901.html
Posted on Wed, Jun. 25, 2008reprint or license print email Carpooling: It’s ganging up against gas
C. Aluka Berry/caberry@thestate.
Columbia resident Kim Hemingway gets out of the driver seat so her husband Curt Hemingway can drive home when she picks him up from work. The Hemingways carpool to save money on gas.
About this series
“Watching Your Money” is a regular series examining the ways Midlands residents are stretching their dollars during a tight economy. Next week, we will focus on how residents are using coupons to get a bigger bang for their buck, and would love to hear your story. E-mail brantin@thestate.com or call (803) 771-8306.
Bertram Rantin
News Columnist
brantin@thestate.com
(803) 771-8306
Curt Hemingway figures he and his wife, Kim, have saved anywhere from $10 to $20 a week since they started sharing a ride to their workplaces in recent weeks.
Like many others, the Irmo couple have turned to carpooling as a means of lowering their fuel consumption and reducing overall spending. What long had been a good idea quickly has become a way of life.
“I was sitting there looking through my checkbook and noticed how many times we were both filling up,” said Curt Hemingway, who works at Data Resources Inc.
Now, rather than taking his own car each morning, he hops in alongside his wife, who drops him off before heading to her own job at the nearby Sunshine House.
“It’s about 10 miles that we save round trip every day,” Hemingway said. “We just started about two weeks ago, but we’re already seeing a decrease in the number of times we’re having to fill up.”
Hemingway said others at his office have been making similar changes in their driving habits.
“Mainly when (gas) went over $3 a gallon, people just had enough of it,” Hemingway said.
Lee Dixon — who makes the daily trip from his home in North Augusta to his job in Johnston — recently started sharing a ride with four co-workers. It’s a practice others at his company have adopted, as well.
“At this rate, each of us (in his carpool) only has to drive once a week,” said Dixon, a plant engineer at Milliken and Co.
The shared driving has reduced his travel by 60 miles a day, 240 miles a week. “I used to fill up once per week, but now I fill up every two weeks,” Dixon said.
Lexington’s Chip Mosteller makes a 44-mile round trip each weekday to his job at Eastman Chemical Co. in Sandy Run. He said he had never considered carpooling until the recent increase in gas prices.
“Every day, it seems to go up more and more,” said Mosteller, whose commute costs him about $8 a day.
“I don’t even spend that much money on lunch,” he explained.
So in recent months, he has started sharing a ride with a co-worker.
“It helps some, but at the rate at which gas is increasing, we soon won’t be able to not carpool,” Mosteller said.
Carpooling is just one of many ways area motorists are cutting back on their driving time and saving money. Other changes have included bringing lunch to work and consolidating trips.
Some companies, including the Palmetto Health hospital system, are devising companywide carpooling systems to help employees connect with others looking to share rides.
Many Web sites long have offered such services. Among those, carpoolworld.com has 64,359 registered daily trips — including some in the Columbia metropolitan area — with confirmed e-mail addresses.
And several state agencies, including the Department of Transportation, recently have implemented four-day work weeks to help workers save on fuel.
Hemingway expects the move to carpooling and other cost-saving measures to be lasting, as more and more people are forced to make permanent changes.
“Once it starts cooling down, I’m also going to start riding my bike.”
My comment:
“Great idea and one that will most likely become very popular. Better check your auto insurance liability limits if your going to have regular passengers. There could be some exposure to the driver and or owner of the vehicle. An umbrella policy might be a great idea as well. Call an agent to find out how to lower your risk.”
Keir
