How high will fuel cost have to be before some people start car pooling? Even with fuel prices increasing substantially over the last few months, a great number of people drive themselves to work. In big cities, some drive over an hour from suburbs by themselves. What will it take for people to carpool more?
Due to the state of the economy, most people are afraid to look for work closer to home or to quit a job that costs them too much in transportation. carpooling can help combat that. If a group of four people took turns and drove for one week at a time each, transportation costs would be cut by 75% for each of them. Those who walk to the grocery store or ride a bike to run their errands are saving gas money as well. Yet, do enough people do it now to make a difference? Will more people join the effort?
Some people ask what would happen if this initiative was adopted on a national basis? How much money would oil companies lose? Would they be forced to drop oil prices to encourage people to start driving their own vehicles to work again?
Many people believe that if Americans begin making changes to their gas consumption, the price of oil and gasoline will decrease. The problem with this is that the rest of the world still uses a large amount of oil as well. Cutting back on the amount of money we spend on fuel, will not be likely to make a large enough dent to make a difference. Not enough Americans care about the cost of fuel yet to do anything about it. They may care enough to complain, but not enough to carpool.