Almost every office these days have a group of colleagues that carpool and make their conveyance to the workplace a lot simpler and more cost-effective, while also having a much bigger concern about saving the environment. What makes a carpool so great is that is packed with enormous amounts of benefits.
With carpooling being a growing habit, the market around it has drastically grown. Different car-hailing applications that previously focused on a single booking system have integrated a carpooling feature in their applications, moreover, many startups solely focusing on carpooling have also been the hype these days.
With so many positive reviews and happy carpoolers, it only makes sense for you to also consider carpooling to your work, gym or any other place with a long route. However, when moving towards building a carpool, it is important to consider both the benefits and the drawbacks that carpooling can bring with it. In this article we have discussed each carpooling advantage alongside a disadvantage, giving you a clearer picture of what you will get yourself into.
1. Saves the Environment But Will Kill Your Flexibility
While many argue that a lone person can’t make an environment change, carpooling gives people the ability to collaborate and work together by reducing their emissions from 4 to 5 cars down to a single car. This also reduces things such as particle pollution, greenhouse gases heating the environment, reduction of noise pollution and even smog.
All these things prove that carpooling will surely save the earth and its environment in the longer term, however on the opposite side, carpooling can cause you to lose the flexibility of timing, consider a situation where you want to leave for work late or want a day off but you can’t because you have a commitment to drive your work fellows with you.
2. Lesser Traffic Jams But Too Much Morning Talk
While a permanent carpooling culture is still under development, a large number of carpools these days are actually reported to be the reason behind the reduction of traffic jams. Apart from avoiding traffic jams in the longer run, you can also avoid them in the shorter term since many countries around the world have allocated separate lanes for carpoolers allowing them to run past all the traffic and receive something in return for their initiative.
On the turn side if you are not a morning person, then being surrounded by morning people is your worst nightmare. People fully charged and pumped for the day might not be the first thing you would want to start your day with since it can get irritating, and spoil your mood causing your work efficiency to decrease.
3. Opportunities and Friendships at the Cost of Diseases
Carpooling apart from its apparent benefits has a strong hidden benefit and that is networking. Traveling with your colleagues to and from work will help you form a better relationship with them, allow an interchange of ideas and might even put forth some amazing opportunities.
While this increasing networking may sound nice, it can come at a cost of a disease spread. Once 4 to 5 people step inside a car from their homes, they bring in different viruses and germs with them and sitting together in such closeness, they probably exchange a lot of them. This makes carpooling a no-go for a germaphobe.
4. Working in the Car But Getting Late into Work
It’s a great feeling to just turn on your laptop put on your headphones and complete a huge amount of work on your way to the office thus allowing you to take more breaks and relax while you are there. This can easily become a habit and is actually a good one since it makes you more efficient and puts you ahead of all the other employees in your company.
This time-saving technique surely sounds nice, but not when you work at a time bounded job, and you and your colleagues have to sit through an extra hour at the office just because a member of your carpool couldn’t find his sock or an important USB for hours.
5. Perfect for Non-Drivers But Can be Difficult to Form
Being a non-driver comes with its own set of struggles, especially if you live in a country that lacks proper public transport facilities. In a situation like that, carpooling is often the best option you have since you can save both costs and effort that you will spend on public transport.
However, this easiness comes after quite the struggle since forming a carpool requires you to collect all the colleagues living near you, bringing them on the same page and actually convincing them to signup for a carpool.
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