If you’ve already read this introduction, swipe down to #5, below.
Mobility managers are often tasked to facilitate and manage carpools. Carpools are an integral of a TDM strategy to reduce traffic congestion and parking demand. There are many societal, organizational and personal benefits to carpools, which we will cover elsewhere.
This series will discuss different aspects of running a successful program that maximizes the participants’ satisfaction and minimizes the negatives sometimes associated with the experience. We will focus our attention on the carpool itself, from the time the carpool begins each day, to the time it ends.
Feel free to forward this post link or copy and paste our text into your circulars to your carpoolers (with attribution, please: “Courtesy of the H2H2H Foundation at www.h2h2h.org.”)
Rules of the Road
Carpool program members need to make some basic decisions about how the carpool will operate on a day-to-day basis. Agreement on these points is critical to long term success of each carpool and the satisfaction of the participants. Carpool members often bail out because these details, these “Rules of the Road”, haven’t been agreed-upon in advance. When enough members quit, the carpool collapses.
It’s better if mobility managers don’t mandate Rules of the Road for the entire program, but rather, present them as decision points for each pool. A program with numerous pools can have widely varying sets of self-imposed rules; it’s not a one-size-fits-all experience.
We do offer our “recommendations” as we proceed, however. Since carpooling is an “experience”, let’s break these up these considerations into the way we experience anything: through our perceptions and senses.
No Sensory Overloads
Here’s the scene: A carpool places several people in close proximity to each other, certainly an immediate violation of most people’s personal space. Carpool participants may not know each other well – or at all. All are locked in a small, containerized metal box (car) for up to two hours during the commute. Their freedom of movement is extremely limited. Each participant brings to the carpool their concerns for the day left behind at home and the workday ahead.
Since humans are societal animals, senses and perception are heightened under these conditions. Everyone is on edge, not necessarily in a disturbed or negative way, but in a manner that could become so. Since the senses are on high alert, far less stimulus is required to agitate an individual or the group. Finally, let’s remember that many of us are not at our best first thing in the morning or after a hard day of work.
Therefore, we’re not suggesting sensory deprivation here, but rather, sensory conservation. The point: Let’s not overstimulate everyone.
1. Time – covered in Part 1.
2. Temperature – covered in Part 2.
3. Balance – covered in Part 3.
4. Hearing – covered in Part 4.
5. Tasting – Most everyone loves to eat. But a carpool is not the place to indulge that pleasure. Participants should eat before or after the carpool.
Eating within the confines of a vehicle subjects everyone to the peer’s food choices. Then there are the visuals of watching eaters chew with their mouths open or leaking the meal’s contents from the corners of their mouths. Yuck.
Hitting a fast food drivethrough is another pain point for some. Those on a diet or following a particular diet, such as vegan or low-gluten, will not enjoy being tempted or disgusted by a bag of greasy goodies. Drivethrough stops should be like all pitstops: a unanimous agreement by all parties.
The owner of the car probably won’t appreciate cleaning up food and drink spills. But a sudden bump in the road might mean a co-rider ends up wearing those spills, as well. Spilled items also attract bugs, another discomfort zone for many people.
As a result, a common Rule of the Road for successful carpools is to forbid food and allow drinks only in spill-proof, covered cups.
Now, what did we miss? Please let us know in your comments below.
Hop these links to navigate our Carpooling “Rules of the Road” series:
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