Vanessa McGrath, right, wants to create a carpooling community in Bass Coast. By Vanessa McGrath
WHILE I was living in Europe I often used carpooling apps like BlaBlaCar to get from one city to the next. These apps are different from Uber, as the aim was not for the drivers to make money or to be a replacement taxi. Instead carpooling is about sharing resources more efficiently, making friends and creating a community.
Since returning to the Bass Coast I have tried to make a similar community of carpooling enthusiasts.
WHILE I was living in Europe I often used carpooling apps like BlaBlaCar to get from one city to the next. These apps are different from Uber, as the aim was not for the drivers to make money or to be a replacement taxi. Instead carpooling is about sharing resources more efficiently, making friends and creating a community.
Since returning to the Bass Coast I have tried to make a similar community of carpooling enthusiasts.
While living in Nantes, France, I often travelled to Paris on the weekends. France is well connected by public transport and the long distant train rides were very reliable, but I was a university student in a foreign country, had limited funds, and wanted to meet locals and practise speaking French. I learnt about “Covoirturage”, a French car pooling website. On the website you choose where you want to travel, what time, if you want to travel with talkative people or not and so much more. All the drivers came with recommendations and ratings from past passengers. It felt safe but this was 2011, before Airbnb, and this type of trust-based website was not the norm.
On my first trip to Paris, I was really nervous. I was meeting the driver in the main plaza in Nantes. My mind was racing with thoughts like: What if I couldn’t find him? What if this isn’t safe? What if I can’t understand anything being said? All these fears were set aside when Jeremie found me in the crowd.
Jeremie worked part time in Nantes and part time in Paris, so made the journey from Nantes to Paris regularly and always advertised on Covoirturage so he would have company for the long drive. I could see that it would be a really boring drive to do regularly so instantly felt more relaxed about his motives for offering his ride.
It turned out we were travelling with a full car that day, so we waited another 10 minutes for the three other people to arrive. I was amazed how friendly and open everyone was. We got into the car and started the three-hour drive to Paris.
The time flew by, as everyone shared their stories. All the other passengers were French and I asked them why they would use Covoiturage rather than take the train to Paris. They all spoke about the community feeling they got from travelling in a car pool situation. One of the guys said that through carpooling he had met people who later became clients for his engineering firm. Others just talked about entertaining rides and fond memories.
At times it felt like I was in a French film, with these totally different characters together for a car ride. Everyone agreed that public transport was very convenient in France (when there wasn’t a strike); however, generally people didn’t speak to one another on the train and the community feeling wasn’t the same.
This was my third time to Paris and I was really keen to see more of the non-touristy places. One of the passengers, Celine, was about my age and offered to show me around her favourite parts of Paris. Jeremie and another person in the car had no plans for the evening, so once we reached Paris we spent the evening having a picnic and drinking wine on the banks of the Saint-Martin Canal. It is one of my fondest memories of my six months living in France.
Not all my other carpooling trips were as eventful but all of them were safe and enjoyable. When I moved to the Bass Coast, I search for carpooling options and only found websites that were aimed at backpackers and travellers.
So I thought I would start the facebook group “Bass Coast Carpool”. Your carpooling trips might not end in picnics on the banks of Saint-Martin Canal, but they might help you to meet new people in the community and reduce your carbon emissions.
Bass Coast Carpool is a community based carpool page. The aim is to connect car drivers with empty seats, to passengers looking for a ride. We are trying to create a community of carpooling which can lead to reducing carbon emissions and meeting new people.
The concept is if you are planning a long distance car journey (such as Bass Coast to Melbourne or even Cowes to Wonthaggi) and want some company, you can post your itinerary on this facebook group. Other people planning to travel a similar journey can request to be picked up or meet you on the way. Once you've worked out the details you can travel together to your destination.
The driver can request a contribution to cover fuel costs, if it's a long journey, but the aim is not to profit from the carpooling process.
Carpooling creates a unique space, enabling exchanges between people who might have never met otherwise but who come together to share a ride.
When posting your ride please include:
Naturally safety is always important, so only take and accept rides if you feel comfortable and always tell someone your plans.
On my first trip to Paris, I was really nervous. I was meeting the driver in the main plaza in Nantes. My mind was racing with thoughts like: What if I couldn’t find him? What if this isn’t safe? What if I can’t understand anything being said? All these fears were set aside when Jeremie found me in the crowd.
Jeremie worked part time in Nantes and part time in Paris, so made the journey from Nantes to Paris regularly and always advertised on Covoirturage so he would have company for the long drive. I could see that it would be a really boring drive to do regularly so instantly felt more relaxed about his motives for offering his ride.
It turned out we were travelling with a full car that day, so we waited another 10 minutes for the three other people to arrive. I was amazed how friendly and open everyone was. We got into the car and started the three-hour drive to Paris.
The time flew by, as everyone shared their stories. All the other passengers were French and I asked them why they would use Covoiturage rather than take the train to Paris. They all spoke about the community feeling they got from travelling in a car pool situation. One of the guys said that through carpooling he had met people who later became clients for his engineering firm. Others just talked about entertaining rides and fond memories.
At times it felt like I was in a French film, with these totally different characters together for a car ride. Everyone agreed that public transport was very convenient in France (when there wasn’t a strike); however, generally people didn’t speak to one another on the train and the community feeling wasn’t the same.
This was my third time to Paris and I was really keen to see more of the non-touristy places. One of the passengers, Celine, was about my age and offered to show me around her favourite parts of Paris. Jeremie and another person in the car had no plans for the evening, so once we reached Paris we spent the evening having a picnic and drinking wine on the banks of the Saint-Martin Canal. It is one of my fondest memories of my six months living in France.
Not all my other carpooling trips were as eventful but all of them were safe and enjoyable. When I moved to the Bass Coast, I search for carpooling options and only found websites that were aimed at backpackers and travellers.
So I thought I would start the facebook group “Bass Coast Carpool”. Your carpooling trips might not end in picnics on the banks of Saint-Martin Canal, but they might help you to meet new people in the community and reduce your carbon emissions.
Bass Coast Carpool is a community based carpool page. The aim is to connect car drivers with empty seats, to passengers looking for a ride. We are trying to create a community of carpooling which can lead to reducing carbon emissions and meeting new people.
The concept is if you are planning a long distance car journey (such as Bass Coast to Melbourne or even Cowes to Wonthaggi) and want some company, you can post your itinerary on this facebook group. Other people planning to travel a similar journey can request to be picked up or meet you on the way. Once you've worked out the details you can travel together to your destination.
The driver can request a contribution to cover fuel costs, if it's a long journey, but the aim is not to profit from the carpooling process.
Carpooling creates a unique space, enabling exchanges between people who might have never met otherwise but who come together to share a ride.
When posting your ride please include:
- Departure
- Destination
- Time
- Any stops on route
- Number of seats available
- Contribution to fuel (optional)
Naturally safety is always important, so only take and accept rides if you feel comfortable and always tell someone your plans.