What is Carpooling?

Carpooling is when two or more people share a ride to a common or nearby destination such as work. You can carpool every day or only when it is convenient.

Carpooling can save you a great deal of money on vehicle running costs as well as parking and tolls. Studies have shown that carpooling can reduce stress, improve employee punctuality, and increase social interaction. You can also reduce global warming and help the community through reduced congestion, lower accident rates, and less pollution. This page will assist you common questions people ask and also provides some tips on carpooling.

What is ecarpool.com.au?

Ecarpool provides a free, map based, online carpool matching service for both individuals and business. Ecarpool.com.au is not-for-profit and was created to combat rising transport costs and increasing vehicle emissions.

Carpooling – frequently asked questions

Is it safe to carpool?

Most people who use this site are genuinely interested in car pooling for the benefits it offers. However, we still recommend the following precautions before accepting or offering a ride to people you contact on this site.

• Before contacting anyone in person, record as much information about him or her as you can (i.e. phone numbers, home address, work address).
• Verify all contact information is correct.
• Ask for references (workmates or friends).
• Meet somewhere crowded beforehand to make sure you're comfortable with the person.
• If you're female, you might like to only accept contacts from other female members. You can change this setting in 'Settings' after logging in.
• Ecarpool for organisations, has many other privacy settings including listing journeys that are only visible to members from the same workplace.
• Ecarpool never gives your contact details directly to other members. If you are contacted though the service, you choose whether to reply or not.

How much money can carpooling save me?

Try our online carpool cost calculator by clicking here.

Can I still carpool if I don’t have a car?

Yes, you can be a passenger and contribute to the driving expenses. When you register a journey on ecarpool.com.au, simply specify your carpooling preference as ‘passenger’.

What details do I need to provide during registration?

You will need to provide the following details in the member registration process:

• Current email address.
• Username.
• Password (minimum of 4 characters).
• smoking preference (smoker or non-smoker).
• How you preferr to share costs.

When listing a journey the following information is needed.

• From address.
• To addess or location.
• Whether you are a driver or passenger.
• Week days you wish to carpool on.
• Your usual arrival and departure times.
• Comments about the journey (optional).

How are compatible carpools matched?

Ecarpool uses geographical matching to find the closest carpools to you. This is based on your origin and destination points and direction of travel. All results are displayed on a map, and in a table sorted by distance from your origin and destination. The accuracy of matches is determined on how close your origin and points are to the actual addresses. Accuracy can be improved by providing as much address information as possible e.g. street number, street name rather than just a suburb, city, or postcode.

Based on the geographical search, it is then up to you to decide which journey and user is most compatible with your preferences. All relevant journey and user information is below the map, in table format. By moving your mouse over various fields, you'll notice an information box will appear, showing more details about the member, or their journey.

If I register, does this mean I have to carpool every day?

Not at all. Registering simply gives you the opportunity to carpool if you wish. Some people choose to carpool just once or twice a week, or even only on an occasional basis, while others choose to carpool every day. It’s worth registering even if you don’t want to carpool now, but may do so in the future.

What happens if the driver has to leave work early or stay back late?

Your employer may offer a 'Guaranteed Ride Home', ask what options your organisation has for those who are carpooling. If there are a number of car-poolers at your organisation, suggesting the 'Guaranteed Ride Home' program, which is simply where your employer rewards car-poolers by guaranteeing a journey home, often by taxi or use of a company vehicle. Alternatively, take public transport, or a taxi – you’ll still make financial savings in the long term.

Does it cost anything to use ecarpool.com.au?

No, registering, searching and contacting others on ecarpool.com.au is free. However, you should agree on how you will share the vehicle-running, parking, tolls, and other related costs among your carpooling group. If the vehicle is rotated equally, no money needs to change hands.

Who is liable if there is an accident?

The Transport Accident Commission (TAC) is a no-fault scheme that covers you whether you are a passenger or driver. This means that as long you are abiding by the law, no one is at fault.

Will carpooling have any affect on my insurance?

As long as your cost sharing does not produce a profit for the vehicle owner or driver, your insurance won’t be affected. You should confirm this by contacting your insurance provider. However, it must be noted that some insurance companies have a ‘Named Driver Policy’ that may not cover other people driving your vehicle.

Are there any discounts for car-poolers?

We are working on partnerships with other organisations that will give ecarpool members the opportunity for discounts on various vehicle related expenses. If you would like to be informed when these become available, please check the 'notify me of site changes' checkbox when registering, or email admin@ecarpool.com.au. Also, some employers offer preferential car parking for car-poolers, see what is available at your workplace, or suggest it.

Carpooling tips

In order to make carpooling a pleasant experience for all, here are some helpful tips.

Keep your car clean and well maintained.

No one wants to sit where your dogs have been sleeping, or put their feet amongst last weeks McDonalds rubbish. Also ensure your car has current registration, and is roadworthy. This means it is regularly serviced and not likely to breakdown due to lack of maintenance or fuel.

Determine who will drive, and when.

If all members of your carpool want to drive, decide among yourselves if you want to drive on a daily, weekly or monthly basis.

Avoid side trips on the way home.

Save other trips, such as shopping, for the weekend. Otherwise simply choose not to carpool on the days you need to run an errand.

Establish a cost-sharing arrangement.

For a guide on how much to charge passengers click here to use our carpool calculator. If the members of your carpool do not share the driving equally, come to an understanding of how the costs will be shared and agree on payment dates.

Give your carpool some time to work.

It usually takes a few weeks to arrange everyone’s routine into a harmonious pattern. Most car-poolers discover they really enjoy the company of their fellow car-poolers and find it a benefit they had not anticipated.

Ensure car-poolers have your contact details, and you have theirs.

If a driver is ill, or not travelling, an alternate driver should be notified to ensure that other members of the carpool will have a ride. If a rider is ill or will not be working, the driver must be contacted as soon as possible. Don’t forget to give notice of holiday, personal or overtime plans.

Establish some basic ground rules.

Smoking, music, food, drinks, etc. Some may also like quiet time in the morning.

Determine a schedule and be punctual.

Establish a pick-up time and place, and designate a place to meet for the trip home. Decide together how long to wait for a passenger. The usual waiting time is 2–5 minutes. Also decide how far in advance you should notify others if you can't make it or are delayed.

Plan B.

Make sure you have a plan b to fall back on if your driver can't make it. Even if this involves getting a taxi, you'll be still saving a lot of money over the long term.

Encourage others to carpool.

Letting others know of the benefits of carpooling can encourage this form of transport to be commonplace in your organisation, and will increase your chances of finding someone to carpool with. Also let nearby businesses know about carpooling, and ecarpool.com.au.

Drive safely.

Carpools are no place for road rage, aggressive driving or breaking the law in any way.