Carpool Back to School

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.

Read more: Do Good, Healthy Schools, Life, Transportation, carpool, school

Disclaimer: The views expressed above are solely those of the author and may not reflect those of
Care2, Inc., its employees or advertisers.

Danuta W.

2:50AM PDT on Mar 31, 2012

Thanks for information.

send a green star

KS G.

2:40AM PDT on Mar 26, 2011

Thanks for the article.

Shalini R.

2:56AM PST on Mar 4, 2011

There are n-number of websites offering free service to connect carpool providers and seekers. One such carpool website is http://www.carpoolssearch.com You can post your carpool ad or join a already posted one. Thanks! Shalini.

Past Member .

3:51PM PDT on Sep 4, 2010

Some Carpooling Portuguese Sites:

http://www.accaoanimal.com

http://compartir.org/

http://www.carpool.com.pt/

Spelling Games for Kids

Anton B.

6:58AM PDT on Aug 27, 2010

Another carpooling website that is nice to have a look at is backseatsurfing.com,this site combines ride sharing with social networking so you can check with whom you step into the car.

Beng Kiat L.

8:08PM PDT on Jun 8, 2010

Thanks.

Lola M.

5:01AM PDT on May 17, 2010

One more carpool website:
http://www.carpoolssearch.com/

Maria H.

11:31PM PST on Dec 29, 2009

We tried to carpool with several neighbors in kindergarten and quickly found I was the ONLY parent willing to actually stand with 5 year olds until the aides and teachers came outside. So now my son and I walk- alone. Sigh.

Marco C.

10:19AM PDT on Jun 30, 2009

there's one interesting more

www.OverTheStop.com