Want to save money on gas? Carpool

Hope your statement "We dare them not to." was a typo or was made to accentuate the gas problem. If it is the former it just confirms how inept the Record is. If it's the latter a one liner like that certainly was not clear.

I think we absolutely need to consider fuel-saving alternatives, not just because of the current gas prices but because it is the right thing to do for our environment.

In our household, we are carefully planning our local travels to minimize gas usage. We are aren't taking long car trips, either.

But my husband commutes to work in Camp Hill 6 days a week. We have not been able to find a single person who shares his work schedule. He can't use the bus service to Harrisburg, because his scheduled hours are not compatible.

And we visited the Shared Ride Challenge website - no matches for his commute.

And it isn't as simple as modifying his schedule. I did the math: if he cut his hours enough to use the bus service, his loss of pay would be greater than our fuel cost savings. And then there is the not-so-small consideration of his employers - they need him on site to work during his scheduled hours. If he isn't there, the job won't get done.

We absolutely want to be part of the solution. We want to conserve energy because it is the right thing to do. We also recycle, use organic and natural products, and try to be mindful of electricity and natural gas consumption in our home. And we NEED to do something to lower our commuting costs.

But what can we do? Ny husband can't telecommute, as his is a manual labor type of job. He can't find a different job, because there is simply nothing comparable (in terms of job security and pay) in York. And we can't even begin to imagine covering the cost of COBRA to continue our health insurance if he did change jobs. Our already tight budget is now stretched too thinly. We dip into our savings every month to make up the difference. And every month, we thank God that we have that savings to lean on.

So what is a family to do? Surely we are not alone. Our $1.500 tax rebate check cannot come too soon. And what will we do with the money? Save it? No. Invest it? Nope. We will be using it to cover the ridiculously high cost of putting gas in my husband's car so we can put food on the table.

I do not know have the solution to this problem, but one must be found, and soon. Families who are far worse off than we are having trouble feeding their children and paying their mortgages. When does it end?

Roots? Routes, maybe!

Carpooling sounds great but lets get realistic folks. How many of us really live close enough to each other AND work close enough to each other to really carpool? Lets say we both live in York Twp and work in Timonium; one in the northern part and the other in the southern part. Which one MUST be at work first; which ones shift ends first; which one MUST be home by a certain time to keep wife.com and/or hubby.com and the family happy that we're not late for din-din...

If I have to sit and wait for my ride home at the end of the day, say 30 minutes, well, I can be home in the amount of time that I have to wait for my 'carpooled ride'... Remember, time IS money just as well as gas being 'money'.

This concept may have worked well 50 years ago when most of our dads all worked at say CAT or a cabinet factory or the chain works. Don't believe me; sit down and make a list of your neighbors etc. to see how far apart everyone works ... times three shifts etc. These 7 - 3:30 situations don't exist any more.... So, what am I missing bean counters and tree huggers???

You're not missing anything, Harold. You are right on the money. Our schedules just don't fit into nice, convenient little categories anymore. Our jobs are all over the place, and so are our hours. And getting home in time for dinner SHOULD be a priority.

I guess I am lucky...I commute from Stewartstown to Bmore every day and was able, through a rideshare website, to find a person who works within the same complex I do and has the same hours. She lives in York and meets me off Exit 4 everyday. She has no children and mine is older so we have no explicit time schedule to which we must adhere. If one or the other of us needs to run an errand on the way to or from work or needs to work overtime, the other is flexible enough to work with it. We have similar driving habits, neither of us smokes and if we want to chat in the car we do and if we don't feel like it the silence is comfortable.
With gas prices shooting through the roof, we have talked about trying to add a third and maybe even fourth person but we have such a near perfect arrangement neither of us wants to take a chance messing it up.

An employer help out? Surely you jest. Working in a local financial institution, I'm well aware that management only thinks of itself and it's other good ole boys.