To assist campus community members with finding carpool partners, Elon University has created a new Rideshare page within the E-net Want Ads. The page has two sections – one for regular commuting and one for one-time trips such as a drive to the airport, beach or mountains.
“The page was designed with two categories to make finding a match easier,” said Elaine Durr, Elon’s sustainability coordinator, who worked with University Relations staff to create the new page.
Individuals interested in carpooling can visit the Rideshare page to review the current requests. To provide a level of security, only the title of a request is shown on the Rideshare page. Individuals can click on a request title and log-in to access the full details of a request. If they find a request that meets their needs, they should respond as indicated in the request.
If they do not find a request meeting their needs, they can post their own request using the link on the page.
The results of the commuter habit survey conducted in the fall of 2008 indicate there are members of the Elon community carpooling:
• 35% of students carpool on average 2 days a week
• 14% of faculty carpool on average 3 days a week
• 10% of staff carpool on average 3 days a week.
“By providing an Elon specific method for finding carpool partners that is easy to use, we hope the new Rideshare page will encourage more faculty, staff and students to carpool,” Durr said.
The Rideshare page is an initial step to assess the potential for a larger carpool program, one that could include incentives. Encouraging carpooling and other alternate forms of transportation to campus will help Elon address the commuting piece of its greenhouse gas emissions or carbon footprint.
Elon’s first greenhouse gas emissions inventory conducted for FY 2008 indicated that 7% of the university’s emissions come from faculty and staff commuting and 5% come from student commuting.
It is estimated that 19.4 pounds of CO2 emissions are prevented for each gallon gas that is not burned. Carpooling can save gas money, put less wear and tear on a vehicle and provide company for communtes.
Click on the Rideshare link to the right to begin a carpool search.