Carpooling picks up steam in Regina

REGINA – Christina Husband starts her morning routine five minutes early each day to allow time for a quick stop before work.

She’s an avid carpooler, and alternates weeks driving with a nearby neighbour.

This mom sees a financial benefit to sharing a ride downtown, saving on parking. But there’s something even more important, “Just that chance to decompress with somebody before you get home. We have some unwritten rules. One of them is you don’t talk about specifics of work. The other is that we don’t believe what each other say about our husbands.”

Charlene Johnson also enjoys the ride.

She said, “We have lots of fun together. We developed quite a friendship.”

Johnson says the choice also saves her $100 each month.

According to the Canadian Automobile Association (CAA), the average Canadian spends over $10,000 driving to and from work each year.

Carpooling also helps reduce traffic congestion and alleviates some of the downtown parking crunch, according to Sheri Florizone with the city.

Florizone says “There’s also an emissions reduction happening when you’ve got a couple cars coming off the road.”

If you don’t know anyone at your work that you can share a ride with, the carpool.ca website connects commuters to neighbours with similar schedules.

Anne Marie Thornton, the website’s director, says “The big misconception that people have that stops them from carpooling is thinking that it’s a large commitment and they have to carpool every day.”

But that’s not the case. Thornton encourages people to start with a small commitment and try it out before going all-in.

As of Thursday, more than 600 Regina residents were using the website and that number is on the rise.

To encourage carpooling, the city put up ten blue carpooling signs along various roads in December. It has also taken the campaign to social media.

Florizone said, “We’re using Facebook and we’re using Twitter to encourage people to use carpool.ca.”

Signing up for carpool.ca is free.