The growing concerns about traffic and pollution have caused many drivers to abandon their cars, vans, and trucks at park-and-rides and garages in favor of carpooling and mass transportation. But ridership is still low in some areas. Ride sharing (carpooling) accounts for approximately 13% of travel in the United States according to an MIT study in 2010. No doubt that number has increased in the last year, but it still points out that an overwhelming majority of drivers are riding by themselves. There is also about 5%, according to the same study, riding mass transportation.

I know that most of you are saying, "Buses don't travel by me!" or "There's no subway/light rail anywhere near where I live!" And while that may be true, I would bet that there are dozens, if not hundreds, of people going the same direction as you from a similar point who have room to spare in their vehicles.

In some cities, such as Cleveland, OH and Houston, TX have implemented a new trend of Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) which is kind of like a light rail with buses. There are many more locations that have BRT as well. And perhaps you're community/city would be an ideal candidate.

What needs to happen to decrease single occupancy travel? Subsidization. My company provides a gas stipend base on mileage and average gas prices to those who commute to work. However, I get less when I car pool because I'm driving less miles and using less gas. This is the wrong thinking. Companies should be providing more incentives to take cars off the road. Buses are already fairly cheap in most places, and so are rail systems, but if you're employer completely paid for a bus/rail pass, would you be more likely to travel via mass transit? Probably.

Governments can step in and increase ridership and ride sharing by diverting and re-purposing funds used to subsidize gas prices into building more efficient and effective mass transit infrastructure. In fact, the US spent over $72 billion in subsidizing oil from 2002-2008, that's about $10 billion a year. Think of what that could do for our mass transit systems. (Environmental Law Institute)

I urge you to talk with your employers and your friends and their employers to change the way they view commuting and commuters. Ask them to support efforts to take vehicles off the road. And write/call/email your government representatives and ask them to support paying for transit and not oil.

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