Carpooling is on the rise at the moment: many people share a car to get to work, on weekends or on vacation, in order to share and reduce expenses. The practice is meeting more and more success, one of the consequences of the rise in gasoline prices. As a result, the Lescar-Pau car park, just next to the Emmaus, dedicated to carpooling, is very frequented by new drivers who take up this practice.
A parking lot “almost full every morning”
Regulars in the parking lot have noticed a ballet of cars which became denser in the early morning. “The parking lot has been almost full every morning for about three weeks” notes Jean, who is used to carpooling with his colleagues to get to work.
“We have a WhatsApp group of about fifteen employees and we organize several cars to go to Biron. It allows us to take the car at most once a week whereas we would normally take it five times”.
“Instead of a full and a half, I refill a month”
Among the new users of the car park, some have taken to carpooling because of rising gasoline prices, like Clara, who admits doing more and more to get to Artix for her work every day: “instead of putting a full and a half full, I have to refill a month, so that saves a third of the savings”.
For others, beyond the financial aspect, there are also practicality criteria which prompted them to start carpooling. Ludovic is used to making his journeys to Biarritz with a colleague, each driving in turn: “It’s more fun, and then we can work on top of it! While one leads the other can already make phone calls, so that’s great!”. The success of this carpooling car park can also be explained by its ideal location, right next to an entrance to the A64 motorway to get to work, on weekends, or on vacation.