Carpooling -- absurd offers

[69GTX]

I've never felt that the IRS mileage fees make any sense for anything but a later model car with lower miles that is also on loan or lease. That's not reality for a large % of the population. 13,500 miles represents an average of US driving (it varies quite a bit based on age and sex). Using the IRS 53c/mile cost, this comes to $7,155 per year. Last year my annual DD vehicle expenses including depreciation were $2800 or about 35c per mile. I was always happy to get the IRS mileage on company paid trips was money in the "tank."

 

[skyactiv]

I live close enough to my job I can ride a bicycle to work and often do.
There are a few people I work with that carpool. There has been a few times when one of the carpooling employees who happened to drive that day got sick or had a family emergency and had to go home early and drag
the other carpooler home early, too.

 

[Mr Nice]

Sounds silly for the drama involved in carpooling.

 

[javacontour]

Originally Posted By: 69GTX
I've never felt that the IRS mileage fees make any sense for anything but a later model car with lower miles that is also on loan or lease. That's not reality for a large % of the population. 13,500 miles represents an average of US driving (it varies quite a bit based on age and sex). Using the IRS 53c/mile cost, this comes to $7,155 per year. Last year my annual DD vehicle expenses including depreciation were $2800 or about 35c per mile. I was always happy to get the IRS mileage on company paid trips was money in the "tank."


Same here. I think those of us who drive beaters are in the the minority. My 2003 Mazda Protege5 is $0.112/mile counting all costs, purchase, fuel, and all service. I've averaged 22800 miles/year over the 64 months I've owned the car. I can usually expense enough work miles each month to cover my costs.

I can usually count on at least 600 miles of customer visits for my on-call week alone.

 

[Andrew1972]

Is that price picking up at your home?

If yes it's a good deal for someone who skips getting a vehicle entirely mainly to get work. Irrelevant to mileage it's a ride and figuring out complexity of length of ride complicates it.

A lot of folks in 20's where I work do not own vehicles and would jump on this.

 

[JHZR2]

Youre essentially hiring a chauffeur, not carpooling.

OP, it sounds like you live in a DC suburb and are going in towards DC. I cant imagine the waste of time that living 70 miles, or even 30 miles from your place of work would be, especially in DC traffic. To drive yourself, without the use of HOV lanes or anything else, and to have to deal with the stress of driving in that mess daily is quite a hassle.

And that's precisely why he can ask an amount of money and people will pay - sit in the car/van, have an established seat that is definite (as opposed to slugs going south on 95 to VA), and not have to do anything.

No car upkeep, no wear and tear, no time wasted driving (i.e. you can be on phone/blackberry/computer/sleeping/reading), no gas or tolls, etc.

Go be a slug or do a rotation with people near where you live to/from nearby workplaces or metro stations if you want to save money.

 

[Andrew1972]

I agree with ^^^^^^

If van is decent and you are not driving I could do so many more things in that wasted time and the value is huge.

 

[DBMaster]

I was in a vanpool when I worked at General Dynamics (now Lockheed) in Fort Worth. There were vanpools in which the driver paid the Fort Worth Transit Authority a monthly amount and that included everything but the gas (included van and insurance). The one I was in was private. The driver owned his own fifteen passenger van. We all drove to a shopping center parking lot in South Arlington and took the van from there (20 miles each way). This was 1990, mind you, and the cost was $55/month. Well worth it! The biggest plus was that only management level people had reserved spaces which meant if you drove your own car you parked, on average, 1/8-1/4 miles from the building. I kid you not. Over 30,000 people worked there. Getting out of the parking lot every day was like fighting your way out of a sporting event. The owner of the van picked us up right outside the exit, due to his reserved parking spot, and he got to fight the exit traffic. I mostly napped on the way home. It was awesome. When I got laid off in early January of 1991, the guy even came to my home and gave me a pro-rated refund for the month. I did not even consider asking for that. Good guy!

Situations vary, though. In our case, it was one vehicle on the road vs fifteen. Sometimes you might want to think about the greater good, too.

 

[pacem]

Originally Posted By: Blkstanger
At only 19 miles away it isn't worth joining a carpool. Not unless you have someone close by and just trade off driving. I have three co-workers that live about 60 miles away. They ride together and trade off every three days. 3 days = 1 tank of gas.


That's the way it should work.

 

[pacem]

Originally Posted By: KrisZ
So these people use their vehicles all the time? Sounds weird. In my place they rotate the vehicles and no money changes hands, which I think is best for everyone. Disputes over money usually end up badly and I would not risk it at my place of work.


Yeah, good point.

 

[pacem]

Originally Posted By: Bottom_Feeder
These people are not in the business of doing you favors or saving you money. I'm surprised you didn't get laughed at or hung up on when you complained that it wasn't cheaper.


Two people spend $200 each on the identical commute, decide to carpool and each has his costs go down from 200 to $100... imagine that. what a concept.

Because now instead of 2 sets of tires, you wear out just one, two gas tanks turn into one and two sets of tolls turn into one.

What a radical concept.

 

[pacem]

Originally Posted By: JHZR2
Youre essentially hiring a chauffeur, not carpooling.

OP, it sounds like you live in a DC suburb and are going in towards DC. I cant imagine the waste of time that living 70 miles, or even 30 miles from your place of work would be, especially in DC traffic. To drive yourself, without the use of HOV lanes or anything else, and to have to deal with the stress of driving in that mess daily is quite a hassle.

And that's precisely why he can ask an amount of money and people will pay - sit in the car/van, have an established seat that is definite (as opposed to slugs going south on 95 to VA), and not have to do anything.

No car upkeep, no wear and tear, no time wasted driving (i.e. you can be on phone/blackberry/computer/sleeping/reading), no gas or tolls, etc.

Go be a slug or do a rotation with people near where you live to/from nearby workplaces or metro stations if you want to save money.


Well, he did say they rotate drivers so you would drive one day a week, which leads me to believe his "taxi" service has 5 people.

No, thank you.

Priced too high means there is no incentive to switch.

 

[pacem]

Originally Posted By: Falken
Let's look at it another way:

He has to keep a seat empty for you the entire distance, or just for the last 5 mins of the drive.

So I believe it is fair you pay what everyone else pays.



I see your point.

However the other side of the coin, if he cannot find anyone to fill that seat anyway, it's a moot point. It will stay empty, or get me at least part time.

However, I just need to find someone who commutes from the same point A to point B. The above examples aren't working for me.

 

[pacem]

Originally Posted By: supton
Sounds like the numbers don't work for you. Those people are making a buck, offering a service, and that's just how it works.

Unless if those 19 miles are miserable it sounds like you are better off on your own. Otherwise, if you hate the drive, it may be worth a few cents/mile for someone else to deal with it.


If I had no vehicle, no DL or something drastic like I was disabled, it would have been a nice deal.

Since I have all of the above, they have no leverage over me. Maybe I should offer my own service to someone who lacks either vehicle or DL or physical ability to drive.

My biggest obstacle is keeping my vehicle clean. I usually use the back seats for extra storage.

 

[Mr Nice]

If options not working for you then drive yourself.

Guy wants to profit from his taxi van service.

 

[pacem]

yeah and I guess my complaint here is why call a taxi service "carpooling".

Taxi is taxi, fine. Vanpooling is vanpooling. Call a spade a spade without confusing people.

 

[JHZR2]

Originally Posted By: pacem
Originally Posted By: JHZR2
Youre essentially hiring a chauffeur, not carpooling.

OP, it sounds like you live in a DC suburb and are going in towards DC. I cant imagine the waste of time that living 70 miles, or even 30 miles from your place of work would be, especially in DC traffic. To drive yourself, without the use of HOV lanes or anything else, and to have to deal with the stress of driving in that mess daily is quite a hassle.

And that's precisely why he can ask an amount of money and people will pay - sit in the car/van, have an established seat that is definite (as opposed to slugs going south on 95 to VA), and not have to do anything.

No car upkeep, no wear and tear, no time wasted driving (i.e. you can be on phone/blackberry/computer/sleeping/reading), no gas or tolls, etc.

Go be a slug or do a rotation with people near where you live to/from nearby workplaces or metro stations if you want to save money.


Well, he did say they rotate drivers so you would drive one day a week, which leads me to believe his "taxi" service has 5 people.

No, thank you.

Priced too high means there is no incentive to switch.



I may have missed that part, or it wasnt stated upfront. Still one day in the week isnt too bad, though 5 people would be tight if the vehicle isnt a minivan or some such thing.

At 19 miles out (and Im assuming youre going into DC), cant MARC or Metro become viable?

Youre free to not carpool. Then the question becomes how do you get any perks that are available (HOV use/for free), parking, etc.

If you can find a rider, thats not a bad idea... they share some fuel and repair costs and dont drive... But the biggest issue is then that YOU are on the hook to drive every day and keep up the situation...

 

[DBMaster]

Sometimes it's about sanity. On my last job I was able to carpool with a friend for several years. I was putting less than 10,000 miles a year on my car as a result. That can add to longevity. Also, it's nice to have a break from navigating through the nasty traffic that this area has. The convenience of having your own ride is worth something, too, of course. I'm just suggesting that it's not all about dollars and cents.