I saw this photo on a travel blog I read occasionally. This is probably the most amount of people I’ve ever seen traveling on or in a single vehicle (and I’ve seen whole families on mopeds in Vietnam):
It’s an amazing image, but this rideshare was probably undertaken due to some very extreme conditions. Judging by the amount of possessions on board, these poor folks are clearly not commuting.
- Jonathan
We’re probably all well aware by now that air travel generates a massive amount of CO2, more than any other form of transportation.
One transatlantic flight for a family of four creates more CO2 than that family generates domestically in an entire year. (Source)
As PickupPal is still quite new (launched Jan 15th, 2008), we have yet to convince the world’s airlines to sign-up to our service and help fill their empty seats. That is work in progress. 
In the meantime, we’re building Eco-Rideshare landing pages to enable airline passengers to rideshare to the airport and reduce the amount of CO2 generated on the highways.
Here are the new landing pages for some of the major US airports:
More to come…
- Jonathan
I received an email today to sign a petition to put the polar bear on the US federal endangered species list. I signed it and I read on…the petition is sponsored by the We campaign (founded by Al Gore). The idea behind We is just that… “we” can make a difference. People are a force for change. We got us here, we can get us out. Yes, sign petitions for things you care about and yes, vote with your conscience. But the undercurrent of change is making personal choices to do things differently, and not necessarily a lot differently, sometimes just a little. “We” are the drops that fill the bucket.
“Find a carpool buddy at least once a week. Sharing a ride to work is one of the most efficient ways to cut down on drive-time emissions. Ask around -odds are someone else is heading in the same direction already.”(source)
So say a person cannot ride with someone every day, they probably could once a week…and they could change it up, meet new people, help someone out. Because combating climate change it is as much about clean energy, renewables and leadership as it is about personal “choice”… A regular carpool may not offer enough of a choice but casual ridesharing sure does. Al Gore seems to understand that, and some people think he is a pretty smart guy.
-Suesan
Southern California…the car is king. Leading in number of cars but also in stringent vehicular emissions control, and in HOV lanes (High Occupancy meaning 2 here in Cali - not 3 like where i live). In December, Quebec decided to adopt the same emissions standards, the first territory outside of the US to do so. California is pushing the automakers, and it has some clout. No kidding!
There are a lot of cars in So Cal, Peter and I experienced our first Californian “gridlock” at the Enterprise counter at LAX: a 45 minute human traffic jam. When you see a 20+ seating area with a movie playing on the large hanging TV above the seats and 4 machine snack dispensers - that’s a pretty good sign that this place is busy! The man serving us assured us that this was the busiest Enterprise in the world. I would argue that LAX car rental agencies are the busiest in the world, that they rent more cars than anywhere and by a long shot. In Southern California you can’t get anywhere without a car - those bike lanes and wide sidewalks be damned.
At the Amusement Park we visited, the parking lots were impressive, and extensive. If you have a Volvo, you get to park in a preferred lot - nice joint advertising! It is the off season, and a Monday, so we aren’t greeted with a sea of cars driving in, and parking is a breeze. I can only imagine what it is like on a long weekend. One funny thing, the overflow parking was full..not with Park visitors whose cars did not pass muster but with brand new SUV’s - looks like a local car dealership rents space from the Park to store their cars…based on what is happening with gas prices, those SUV’s may be there a long time ( ref. Eric’s Times they are a-changing post).
If casual ridesharing is going to work, it has to work here. There are more people, more cars, more traffic and congestion, more air pollution, less public transportation than anywhere. There is a lot of carpooling but it has reached a peak, and the HOV lanes are still underused. Nobody stands to benefit more from a working casual ridesharing system than Californians. And we need it to work for Californians, cause if it works here, other places will follow.
-Suesan
Hypermiling is a gas-saving craze that has been sweeping the US over the last few years as a reaction to the increasing costs of gasoline.
Hypermiling, to the uninitiated, is a way of increasing the mileage of your vehicle by making some skillful changes to your driving style.
A few Hypermiling tips:
For the extreme Hypermilers there is even a Hypermiling competition at this year’s Hybrid Fest called the MPG Challenge.
Whilst some of these suggestions are a little extreme and dangerous (coasting in neutral), it seems people are prepared to go to extraordinary lengths to save money on gas. I wonder how many of these Hypermilers share their rides?
- Jonathan
Oxford based super group, Radiohead have created a new blog called: themostgiganticflyingmouthforsometime.
Here you can try out our carbon calculator and compare different transport methods for getting to and from the venue. The list of tour dates will give you public transport information where available, and where not, there may be venue incentives for car sharing. There will also be weekly postings from Radiohead’s production team on how the band has addressed their own touring carbon footprint and made it easier for fans to reduce theirs.
It all sounds very cool, but I must admit I found their carbon calculator a little difficult to use. For a start, I had to use 3 separate pages to enter all the info for their calculator.
Now I know I’m biased, and I know our Eco-Rideshare Program pages don’t do everything that Radiohead’s calculator does, but I do think our solution is more effective for event based rideshare: click here to see the PickupPal Radiohead Rideshare page.
Now click on the link in Going To field to see how our system can handle multiple dates and locations all on one page.
So Mr Yorke, would you consider using our version for your ridesharing fans?
- Jonathan