Carpooling

Why carpool?

Greater Sudbury is 3,627 square kilometres in area, making it the geographically largest municipality in Ontario and second largest in Canada. If you are commuting alone by car in Greater Sudbury, fill those empty seats to save time and money.

Carpooling is sharing your drive or ride with at least one other person to avoid the need for others to make the same trip at the same time on their own.

Transportation is responsible for 32% of Greater Sudbury’s Green House Gas (GHS) emissions. Did you know that on average, carpooling with another person can reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 3.72 kilograms? (Source: Transport Canada). And if you were to carpool for a year, you would reduce greenhouse gas emissions by approximately 893 kilograms.

Benefits of carpooling:

  • Save money: Sharing your commute costs can reduce fuel, tolls and parking costs. It cuts down gas and oil consumption, maintenance costs and extends the life of your vehicle.
  • Reduce traffic congestion: Reducing lone driving trips can reduce overall traffic impacts.
  • Carpool parking: EarthCare Sudbury has organized carpooling parking lots, often referred to as park-and-ride, throughout the City of Greater Sudbury and it’s free!
  • Improve personal well-being: Carpooling allows you to share the driving responsibility, which can reduce stress and lead to higher employee retention and satisfaction.
  • Ease parking requirements: The more people that carpool, the less parking spots required. Local employers and businesses benefit too! Carpooling can help reduce overall parking requirements and often prevent the need to build additional parking infrastructure.
  • Reduce environmental impacts: Reduction in air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions.

The average monthly cost of owning a car in Canada is about $740, which comes out to about $8.800 per year.

Getting Started

If you are having trouble finding a carpool partner who lives close to your home, consider meeting at one of the many carpool lots around Greater Sudbury, which can be found on the City of Greater Sudbury’s Carpooling page.

Before you start carpooling, here are some tips to consider:

  • Worried about traveling with a stranger? First step, arrange to meet at a public space such as a local coffee shop before you agree to a carpooling arrangement.
  • Create a schedule. Driving schedules can alternate on a daily, weekly or monthly basis if driving is shared. A schedule will help your group avoid confusion. Share it by email and mark the details in your calendar. Make sure the schedule includes complete contact information. Also, do not forget to give notice of vacation, personal or overtime plans.
  • Register through the Smart Commute tool or app to start planning routes and logging your trips.
  • Consider cost-sharing options. If your carpool partners do not share the driving equally, decide how the costs will be shared and agree on payment dates.
  • Set ground rules on what can be done in the car, such as eating or drinking, whether the car is scent-free and whether side trips are okay, such as a morning coffee stop.
  • Keep the car clean, in good repair, filled with enough gas for each trip and drive carefully and responsibly.
  • Check your insurance policy if you will be a driver in the carpool. Your insurance rates may rise or fall if you carpool on a regular basis.