There’s two types of people in this world, natural born carpoolers and those who need to be converted. Yet with the price of gas soaring to the stratosphere and increasing concern about fuel emissions and global warming, even the non-converted are becoming easy to sway. With recent reports that some school bus services are being cut due to the price of fuel,  back to school carpooling may become a necessary endeavor.

For some people the mechanics of starting a back to school carpool may be evident. Maybe you have friends or neighbors that would make obvious ride sharers. But for others, it may take a bit more legwork. Here are a few tips to get your wheels in motion:

• You may not know it, but some schools have carpooling programs already set up, so check with the school administration office.

• If there isn’t a carpooling system already set up, talk to the school’s administration or PTA to ask if they will help you.

• Check with your state’s department of transportation or department of environmental quality for information on how to start a carpool, there is a lot of support material available.

• Contact parents you already know about carpooling.

• Contact the PTA or your child’s teacher to see if they know other parents interested in sharing rides.

• If your child’s school has a directory, determine which children live in your area and contact those parents to see if they’re interested.

• Advertise your desire to start a carpool at a PTA meeting, a school newsletter, a school list serve, or on bulletin boards.

• Find a carpool in your area doing an Internet search using the keywords “carpool” with your town or city name.

• Go online and check carpool and sites that help connect drivers and riders in your area. These are several free services: Try eRideShare or Carpool World.

• Once you have a group of families together, you can use this great site, Divide the Ride, to create and manage a calendar for school and extracurricular carpooling for the group, complete with scheduling, e-mail and text alerts.