Make your daily commute profitable with a lift club
Having a car is not so easy to come by. It’s costly and most people work very hard for it. Plus if you work in the city and live in the suburbs or any area outside of the city, you will know how costly it is to commute daily. With the high fuel and maintenance costs of a car, most people are cutting it quite close and it’s not so easy to just ”move closer to work” as there are different situations that keep people where they live. You can resolve this issue by using public transport, but that isn’t always possible with the lack of sufficient and safe public transport that cover all areas in SA. So, the only other option to revert to is that of forming a lift club.
This idea may sound like a lot of effort to some people, but it can be worth your while and the idea of commuting in a group is to save costs and reduce your carbon footprint, as cars are one of the sole contributors of CO2 emissions. A lift club is also a mutual advantage, as there are people without cars that will be willing to pay to join a lift club, rather than to struggle with trains and buses.
The question is how do you go about starting a lift club?
1. Find other people to join. You can easily find people to join you, just ask around at your work or in your your neighborhood. It is always easier to to drive with people from your work or people who work/live close to you. If you struggle to find people, an alternative can be to put an add up on a website, like Gumtree. Here you can state your situation, area and tariffs. You can be two, three, four or more people, depending on the size of the vehicle of course.
2. Always make sure the people who are in the lift club are safe and reliable. You don’t want to be late for work and wait around for people every morning.
3. Figure out who will be driving, when, and how much everyone will contribute. It is best to set up a schedule, so that there will be no confusion between the members.
Carpooling might not be ideal for everyone but it will save you money. You can always try it out, and if it doesn’t work out, you simply opt out. You should see this as an opportunity, who knows- maybe you’ll make a few new friends and save a buck or two.