Covoiturage

The covoiturage is a mode of displacement where several people use only one car to make the same way or almost, which represents several advantages:

economic: one divides the expenses of car, of gasoline, toll, carpark;
Environment Al: one reduces the traffic and the Pollution;
interdependent: one helps oneself mutually;
social: other people are met.

Development of the covoiturage

Associations since the Eighties helped to organize the covoiturage; Taxistop in Belgium, Allostop France and Canada Hello-Stop. The covoiturage also developed in Germany, to the Canada and now extends to almost all the occident. Internet contributed much to the emergence of this technique of transport since the making of contact between the members is often done easily and free.

Several countries fit already in the vagueness of the covoiturage by placing at the disposal of the followers parkings being used as points of fall, of the ways reserved in the event of stopper of circulation, etc To Canada for example, all the important highways around the agglomerations like Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver has ways reserved for the covoiturage, which accelerates the access to the downtown area largely. With the Netherlands, there exist lifters pläatz which consists with a pavement of approximately a kilometer in front of all the entries of highways. These pavements make safe the followers and are used as much for the covoitureurs as with the hitch-hikers.

Several things could accelerate the development of the covoiturage:

To increase the twinning appropriatenesses of the ways;
To convince the municipalities to found parks car with the accesses of the dense downtown area;
To allow the general public to simply reach the whole of the services of covoiturage;
To improve the reliability of the covoitureurs, for example while insisting on the respect of a charter, or by setting up a system of evaluation, evolving/moving with the delivery of an approval;
To reassure the users compared to certain irrational fears;
That the public authorities support this practice;
While creating at the entry of the cities of the lanes reserved for the cars with several passengers.

Across transport between people of knowledge (limited inevitably enough), the covoiturage can function only if one system manual (association, center of calls, classifieds, announce radio etc) or automated (Internet site, babillards, exchange of emails or SMS, etc), or both, assistance to solve all these problems.

Many Internet sites make it possible to propose and require ways, which they are regular or specific, of proximity or long distance. In this last case, certain sites offer search engines on line for the covoiturage, which makes it possible to calculate the ways and the best possibilities for the driver and the passenger. These services of babillard for the covoiturage are often free and easy to use.

In France, the covoiturage develops little in spite of the increase in the transport costs and automobile pollution.

In Switzerland the covoiturage starts gently but fears remain still too large. Small projects as fri-way.org help people interested by the covoiturage to be found on more or less small ways.

The principle

A driver proposes its car, and its services, for a given way, with the date and the hour that it wishes. The expenses are left with its appreciation also:

most traditional is to calculate the cost of the way including/understanding the fuel and toll, then to divide this amount by the number of people at the time of the departure
some will include there the overheads of the car such as the maintenance costs and from the insurance
of others go even until requiring a contractual participation whatever the number of covoitureurs, these are a rather rare case but which can surprise the passengers, by considering that as an injustice because the driver can draw a little benefit

from them Generally, the starting place is fixed in advance and commun run for everyone. On arrival, it is frequent that the driver deposits the passengers at a place that each one wishes (near to public transport, with a place where the family or a friend can recover it,…), while preventing that the driver makes a large turning. In the same way, certain drivers can require so that one passengers replace it at the wheel so that it can rest a little. This also makes it possible to reduce times of pause, and thus to arrive more quickly at destination, especially when it is about a long way.

Some rules for the model covoituror

Annoncer in advance if one transports much luggage, that one is conducting or momentary, because it can arrive that all does not return, this thus allows the passenger to choose another means of transport if there is not enough place for his luggage
not to arrive late at an appointment, some of the covoitureurs perhaps have a program on their arrival
Demander before smoking in a car, to even smoke only at the time of the pauses
If the car is full, therefore passengers with the back are tightened, it is of use to take turns for base with the front one
For the driver: to announce at the beginning the amount that each one will have to pay

The role of Internet

In France, several sites of covoiturage exist, free for the majority. However, they suffer all from a weak frequentation, probably because of the great number of existing sites. Moreover, the majority of the sites of free classifieds propose also a heading of covoiturage. Moreover, certain sites of local classifieds lay out more offers of covoiturage than a specialized site, for an identical way.

Internal bonds

Automobile Autopartage
Plane of displacement of company (PDE)

External bonds

Article of the free daily newspaper 20 minutes on the covoiturage
Study on the use of the novel methods of communication for realizer of the services covoiturage dynamic and flexible (" dynamic ridesharing")
to see the sites laroueverte, carstops.org, Co-voiturage.fr, covoiturage.com (tested successfully, compared to those which generally google indicates…), covoiturage festivals festivalsrock.com
To divide its car with its family or her neighbors/in English

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