Catch a lift to work this week
Now in its fifth year, Carpool Week 2017 takes place from today, October 9, to Sunday, October 15.
The 2017 theme, “Fuel Your Car With People”, wants to encourage and enable single driver commuters to make use of the empty seats in their cars by offering rides to others.
According to car pool catalyst Daniel Claassen, in South Africa there are four times more people looking for rides than there are offering rides.
He said Carpool Week was established in 2013 as an annual national initiative to raise awareness and educate on the benefits of carpooling.
“We hope to encourage South Africans to rethink their travel choices for a better country. Carpool Week is organised by Findalift.co.za, SA’s largest carpool movement, and made possible with the support of various organisations and advocates.
“Each year we promote a different theme to look in depth at a specific benefit of carpooling,” said Claassen.
“Every day there are millions of empty car seats on our roads. Each single driver car has around three empty seats that are not being used. What is this costing the driver indirectly? On a fuel bill of R1 000 per month each seat can cost around R250.
“Therefore, three empty seats can ‘cost’ the driver R750 each month. Empty seats are also a waste of road space causing congestion, while congestion adds to the harmful impact of greenhouse gas emissions on our environment.”
The campaign encourages all South Africans who move around by car to visit www.carpoolweek.co.za.
Claassen added it is also a good idea to offer/find an empty seat on social media platforms (#carpoolweekSA, so as to spread the word about this important initiative.
