We all dream about the big city life – all those big skyscrapers, cars and along with that, the jazz. But once we come here, it is nothing but a dark and gloomy city, submerged in a cloud of smoke and dust.
At first we hoped for money and comfort, but after a while all it becomes is tension and deadlines!
We travel for almost half the time we spend in our office. Gone are the days when we used to get up and read a newspaper, drink a cup of tea and chit-chat with our family. We are always in a hurry. We rush out of our homes, hoping not to catch the traffic – but alas so is everyone else! So no matter what you do, the luxury of living is not there anymore. The first challenge we put ourselves through is strenuous travel, traffic and rowdy drivers!
Even though there isn’t an alternative to travelling – we don’t have teleportation yet – there is just one last hope that we all have: Carpooling.
And as surprising as it may sound, the generation that owns more cars than houses, are actually participating in campaigns that promote the concept. Car free Thursdays in Hyderabad being one of them – they actively promote the concept of using individual car alternates; from cycles, to buses, carpools, trains – just about anything that reduces the number of cars on the road, at least once a week!
Here are 5 unexpected benefits of Carpooling – that would definitely make your life much easier:
#1 Lesser worries about fuel Hikes
One of the biggest worries in a person’s life is the continuous hike on petrol prices. It is just plain nerve-wrecking. Every time you hear that the petrol prices are going to increase – all you wish you had was a large barrel, in which you could stock up on petrol! But, alas that can’t be done – you just end up emptying your pockets there!
Now think about it, if you had someone to pitch-in with you in your fuel expenditure. Wouldn’t that just make your life a hell lot easier? Carpooling gives you exactly that. It helps you to divide your travel cost amongst your fellow travellers. It gives you the peace of mind and also proves to be lighter on your pocket.
#2 Lesser traffic and no parking troubles
Driving in ‘office hours’ is like driving in a battlefield; roads are a war torn area, where everyone is fighting to reach their office in time. They don’t care about the other cars on the road. It is like they have blinders on their eyes and all they can see is their goal in front of them. Traffic lights means that, people are allowed to start driving from the wrong side; and nobody, I mean nobody can do a thing. All you can hear and see on a busy Monday morning are horns and those frustrated drivers jumping lanes like it’s no one’s business.
The solution is quite simple really. Less number of cars on the road means, less number of people trying to drive you over while going to work.
If everyone is either offering carpooling or opting for carpooling – wouldn’t the drive become a lot less fussier?
#3 No unnecessary pollution – reduced carbon footprint
As I said before, we are living in a cloud of smoke. All those unnecessary cars on the road are just adding to it. We have less of greens and more of carbon in our surroundings – this is causing the world to die from inside out.
Every car emits their specific amount of carbon dioxide into the air i.e., they are leaving their own carbon footprint in this world. If you just take the step and start carpooling to and fro from work, your carbon footprint would almost reduce by half!
#4 Commuting becomes fun
Driving can be treacherous especially if you are stuck in a car for hours without moving an inch. It is just plain gruesome. But if you have friends driving with you, then those traffic jams doesn’t mean that much, do they?
Conversations become a great pastime and music suddenly seems much livelier. On the other hand, if you don’t want to talk – you could sit and read a book or a newspaper. Prepare for your meeting or go through your emails etc.
Carpooling gives you the opportunity to start early up in the day, meet new people, make new friends and have someone to talk to when you are sitting in a car, steaming in the heat.
#5 Reduced stress levels
We earn so that we can live a comfortable life. But when you stop enjoying that life, spending most of your waking hours either travelling or working; you’re bound to become grumpier. The stress is just unavoidable!
Life is more than just work or going to work or coming back from work. You might not be able to reduce your work stress or personal life stress, but you can for sure reduce the stress that you gather everyday while driving to and fro from work.
It’s all about balance of probability, if you have 4 people sitting in your car and then you have 3 less cars on the road. Just imagine if that really does happen – suddenly the roads would seem bigger, the drive would seem smoother and of course the travel time would suddenly just vanish.
Carpool and make commuting fun!