Why Carpool?

Transit Lane. Motor vehicles with 3 or more occupants.

In Auckland and in other parts of New Zealand there are simply too many cars on the road and the traffic jams seem to be getting worse not better. Public Transport is a great idea but for many people it is simply not a viable option. Carpooling is an alternative option that can also be fun!

The benefits of carpooling are many, but some that are most often reported include:

  • Savings — in some cases dramatic — on the costs of commuting
  • A faster and less stressful journey by using the the T2/T3 transit (carpool) lanes
  • Less wear and tear on your vehicle
  • Less stressful commuting/less driving
  • Reduced traffic congestion and fuel consumption
  • Helping to keep the air clean1
  • Unexpected benefits like making new friends and keeping more consistent work hours

Sarah Painter, who founded the Carpool Day project, is a passionate environmentalist and believes that EVERY little thing that anyone does to minimise their impact on the environment DOES make a difference. To illustrate this, our friends at Green Carbon (one of the companies that is supporting us) have calculated that if we remove 1,000 cars from the daily workers commute , that would be over 880 tonnes of CO2 emissions less per year2. For context, roughly 154,000 vehicles cross the Auckland Harbour Bridge every day.

1 Some statistics on air quality:

  • Emissions from vehicle exhausts contain carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide, all of which are greenhouse gases that cause climate change. Approximately 16 per cent of New Zealand’s total greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions come from road transport (MfE, 2008)
  • There are other emissions which are not deemed GHG but are certainly unhealthy. These include Carbon monoxide (CO), Nitrogen oxide (NOx) and Sulphur dioxide (SO2). In Auckland, motor vehicles contribute to the majority of CO (84%) and NOx (80%). (MfE Auckland 1993 inventory).

2 Calculation based on:

  • Average driving distance of 11,000 km per year with 1/3 related to work. (source, MoT: Household Travel Survey v1.2 Revised May 2007)
  • Emissions factors for default vehicle (source, MfE: Guidance for voluntary, corporate greenhouse gas reporting, Data and Methods for the 2007 Calender Year).

Calculations and statistics supplied by Green Carbon