Group Discussions
label:
Festival Carpooling, from spaceShare.com
Festival Carpooling: The Rider-Driver Inversion
As summer ends, we’ve seen something new in the world of festival carpooling. A few years ago, at a festival like EarthDance you’d see hundreds of people without cars struggling for a way to see their favorite bands, scrambling to find friends or hitch a ride. The heroes of the story were drivers who took a little extra time to check for neighbors who needed rides. As SpaceShare started building festival carpool systems, our goal has been to reach drivers and encourage them to share, hoping to find enough drivers to take everyone in need.
At Solfest in August and again at EarthDance the weekend of 9/15/06, we saw something new: people looking for rides almost always found them, and drivers outnumbered riders.
EarthDance had a record 634 people signed up to carpool, where a $20 parking fee waived for carpoolers combined with lots of environmental inspiration and reminders, leading to the normal balance of riders and drivers reversing itself. We’ve gotten consistent feedback that riders easily found rides; we’ve heard back from folks needing rides that they had half a dozen offers. With
apologies to the drivers, this caught us by surprise: we’ve started hearing back from drivers that they just can’t find anyone to go with them.
What’s next? While SpaceShare hopes you get a chance to party, we’re really here for the planet. We don’t just want to get the car-free to the festivals, we want less cars at each festival. The heroes of the next round of greening festivals will be the people willing to leave their cars at home. Do you believe in the festival community? Ready to pack light, and leave your car home? There are still many empty seats traveling the highways going to festivals, and more and more neighbors who’d love to offer you a ride. SpaceShare sites let you choose to simultaneously look for a ride and offer one, which is a great way to help fill every last seat while making sure everyone can get to the festival.
As summer ends, we’ve seen something new in the world of festival carpooling. A few years ago, at a festival like EarthDance you’d see hundreds of people without cars struggling for a way to see their favorite bands, scrambling to find friends or hitch a ride. The heroes of the story were drivers who took a little extra time to check for neighbors who needed rides. As SpaceShare started building festival carpool systems, our goal has been to reach drivers and encourage them to share, hoping to find enough drivers to take everyone in need.
At Solfest in August and again at EarthDance the weekend of 9/15/06, we saw something new: people looking for rides almost always found them, and drivers outnumbered riders.
EarthDance had a record 634 people signed up to carpool, where a $20 parking fee waived for carpoolers combined with lots of environmental inspiration and reminders, leading to the normal balance of riders and drivers reversing itself. We’ve gotten consistent feedback that riders easily found rides; we’ve heard back from folks needing rides that they had half a dozen offers. With
apologies to the drivers, this caught us by surprise: we’ve started hearing back from drivers that they just can’t find anyone to go with them.
What’s next? While SpaceShare hopes you get a chance to party, we’re really here for the planet. We don’t just want to get the car-free to the festivals, we want less cars at each festival. The heroes of the next round of greening festivals will be the people willing to leave their cars at home. Do you believe in the festival community? Ready to pack light, and leave your car home? There are still many empty seats traveling the highways going to festivals, and more and more neighbors who’d love to offer you a ride. SpaceShare sites let you choose to simultaneously look for a ride and offer one, which is a great way to help fill every last seat while making sure everyone can get to the festival.
