Commuters detour rising gas pricing by carpooling

By Renee Rodger

WOOLER, Ont. (15/05/11) Todd Emmes, who works at Darlington Nuclear Generating Station, carpools every day to work with his colleagues to help offset high gas prices. Photo by Linda Horn

With fuel prices climbing ever higher, some local commuters are carpooling to detour around the high price of gas.

Jeremy McLeod, who works for Chambers Contracting in Belleville, said he often travels long distances to get to jobsites. Even though the price of gas is currently around $1.30 per litre in Quinte, McLeod isn’t worried. He started carpooling with his colleagues about two years ago to help offset rising fuel costs.

“That’s definitely the biggest reason,” he said. “It’s a lot easier – especially if you travel, and if you work with people that you enjoy their company – because they can help you split the cost on gas. It does definitely help at the end of the week.”

The price of gas has been on the increase in Quinte and in much of Ontario, especially in recent months. According to Statistics Canada, gasoline prices in Ontario rose 20.4% in March of this year after an 18.3% increase in February. The Ontario Ministry of Energy’s website said the average price of regular unleaded gas across the province last week was $1.32 per litre.

Steep climbs in gas prices mean carpooling makes sense for people on a budget. But saving money on gas isn’t the only positive aspect of carpooling. McLeod said there are social benefits as well,

“I find that you can talk about your day,” he said. “A lot of the times when I used to travel, sometimes it was alone and I would put on the radio but that doesn’t really get my engine rolling for the day, personally. But if I have somebody like a coworker or a colleague beside me that we can just, you know, talk about last night’s hockey game, or world events or what the day is going to entail for when we get to the jobsite, I find that it kind of gets you energized and ready because you actually have a social interaction that’s not just a radio voice.”

McLeod said he will likely always carpool and believes others should too.

“I don’t see the cost of gas going down drastically,” he said. “I think in order to better utilize our dollar we all need to carpool.”

McLeod’s brother Chris is the operations manager for D.L. Services Group, an environmental consultant and contracting company in Brighton. Part of his job is to oversee workers’ commute to jobsites. Chris usually groups
staff together to cut down on the amount of heavy-duty trucks on the road, saving his company money on gas.
This is something Chris said helps the company he works for stay competitive.

“It’s something businesses have to do to be able to pass some savings on to their clients,” Chris said.

The McLeods aren’t the only ones who see the advantages to ride sharing. The large carpool lot on Wooler Road near the 401 was almost full on the afternoon of May 17.

Todd Emmes, who works at Darlington Nuclear Generating Station in Clarington, arrived at the lot after work with a van full of colleagues. Emmes said he has carpooled for the past 26 years.

“You’ve got to carpool to save the cost of gas,” he said.

Darrell Fairman, a program officer at Warkworth Institution, also arrived at the Wooler lot with colleagues in tow.

He said he and his coworkers carpool to work every day, with each taking turns driving.

“With the price of gas nowadays it certainly does help,” said Fairman. “I think it’s a great idea.”