I’ll admit it, I made a lot of assumptions before I ever met a Casual Carpooler or started research with Carma and UC Berkeley. I now realize that these opinions, which I rashly decided were fact, are shared by most people new to the concept of casual carpooling.

1. 3 Things you didn’t know about
Casual Carpoolers

2. The initial reactions
1. Why would someone would
take their lives in their hands
every day, risk robbery or
worse, all to save a few
bucks?
1. How could they take part in
something that has no
supervision, no structure?
1. Do they realize they are
voluntarily getting in a car
with complete strangers?
“11,500* people Casual Carpool
each day and there have been no
reported crimes in the community”

3. One: The No Choice Commuter
Casual Carpoolers don’t use this
system as they have no choice.
Cost is a motivating factor, but
not the sole factor in their
decision - Casual Carpool came
out on top.
Why?
• It costs max $1 per trip,
• From Oakland it’s about 25
min faster than driving alone
• You are guaranteed a seat
each day (a main reason
poolers switch from BART).
“38% of Casual Carpoolers
surveyed earn over $100k per
year”

4. Two: The Male Commuter
I believed Casual Carpooling was
unnecessarily dangerous.
I assumed that the lines would be
made up exclusively of men;
probably strong ex-marine
types, maybe a few pro wrestlers.
Surely only they would be
capable of taking on these knife
wielding scoundrels I had
conjured up.
“51% of Casual Carpoolers
surveyed are professional female.
Zero cited wrestler as occupation.”

5. Three: The Hyper-Efficient
Commuter
I assumed these savvy
commuters would be dashing for
the city before traffic began.
It turns out that individually they
aren’t the perfect commuter, but
together they have formed a
system that relies on their casual
behavior.
This system allows you to run
late and get into the city just as
quickly as the early bird.
It is the ultimate example of the
Sharing Economy: efficient, yet
utterly reliant on the whole for
supply and demand.“63% of Casual Carpools surveyed
form after 8 am”

6. 83% of riders have never had the same driver
The Truth About Casual Carpoolers

7. I now realize how much I
underestimated the Casual
Carpooler.
They aren’t perfect, but they are part
of a grassroots system which is as
close to perfect as I’ve seen. This
system tells us a lot about what we
can do as a society.
While we previously blamed our
transportation woes on inept
governing or inadequate
funding, companies and individuals
have proven that the answer is not
an increase infrastructure.
We have the resources, we just
need to pool together and use them
more efficiently.
“We need to burst
our bubbles of
solitude and share.”

8. Keep up-to-date or get in touch @iTresell
Adapted from a blog at: https://medium.com/keepin-it-casual-sf/459d01ada7dc
Thanks to www.carmacarpool.com for the support on this piece
* Statistics based on research run in 2014 by UC Berkeley and Carma Carpooling