Update: Nicole will not have Internet at her house until December 6. She is still reading and loving a lot of websites but hopes her friends, family, and fellow bloggers understand her limited ability to comment, write e-mails, social network, and link to fabulous online articles/blogs they are writing. She will start that all back up just as soon as she can.
So I put that carpooling out on Craigslist but since I’ve never used Craigslist before I’m not sure how many other people in my area use the service. Not being a passive (or patient) person, I’ve not put all my eggs in one basket. Here are a few other places I’ve posted my carpool request:
www.iCarpool.com
I had to register only to find out that there was one person in my area. Set up like a dating or social networking website, I have a profile into my own inbox on the site. I hope I get some kind of a work on e-mail someone writes to me because I’m totally going to forget about this.
www.erideshare.com
while there seem to be more people on this website, there is no one going in my direction. The site does get points for being searchable without having to register. I of course did anyway.
www.dividetheride.com
Focused more on the movement of children, this would be a good website for parents and families. There is even an option for ridesharing for one-time events.
www.rideshare.com
This is a nonprofit website focused on getting more people to carpool. They have their own vans which are probably not in my area but I did sign up for some information from them. They have some good (if slightly biased) information about the environmental and economic benefits of carpooling.
www.paidride.com
I’m only putting this on the list because I think it’s kind of hilarious. Apparently companies will pay to put advertisements on your car, essentially making your commute free. (This was one of those Google ads that came up in my search.) The catch is that you have to pay a $15 one-time fee to look at the directory of potential advertisers.
Some may think that the whole commuting thing isn’t worth the money I could save but I would have to disagree. According to this handy little calculator, my yearly cost to commute is around $3,800 (!?!). Because if what’s keeping me from $2000 is a 40 minute ride with a stranger then sign me up, though I reserve the right to be a little the picky (non-smoking and non-sketchy, please).
If you’ve had any success finding a commuting buddy online or off-line, let me know how you did it.