Northern California Nesties
">
Dear Community,
Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
XP Carpooling questions
My Dh has recently joined a car pooling group. He loves it because he feels it is great for the environment and etc. We have an older car circa 2000. The driver a new hybrid of some sort. The driver wants to drive all the time and picks Dh and 2 others up at a park and ride. My question has to do with the cost. The driver wants 8 dollars a day from all 3 riders?? Is this a fair amount?? They commute about an hour together. What do u think? Dh thinks it is too much money. I think it might be ok.
">
Re: XP Carpooling questions
So DH said because it's all freeway the car is using all gas even though it is a hybrid. So he said with that said it might be a tad high but your gas prices are higher than ours in Sac so it's probably not too far off.
Hope that helps! I know what you mean about feeling riped off. Sometimes even if it's only saving 5 bucks it adds up.
How far is the commute in miles, there and back? (I'm wondering how fast the driver might be going through a tank of gas.) Are they all riding together both ways? Do they cross any bridges that require tolls?
Right off the bat, $8 a day per person seemed a little high to me, but maybe there are some unknown/unusual circumstances that require more cash. I don't really know what carpool reimbursements average, but it seems to me that if you don't have bridge tolls, and you're just accounting for gas and wear-and-tear costs, maybe $5 a day per person should cover it for a hybrid.
eta: after reading your second post, I gotta say -- I don't think it's the riders' responsibility to cover the ENTIRE cost of that person's gas. They'd be driving to work anyway, right? So part of the gas expensive is on them. While gas is expensive, those cars (supposedly) use much less of it.
What are the alternatives if your DH quits this carpool? Could he find another carpool that's more reasonably priced, ride public transportation, or would he drive himself? Consider how much the feasible alternatives would cost vs. paying $8 a day and then you'll know if it's worth it to you.
I think it sounds like a lot...but...
IRS reimbursement is 55 cents a mile (from my brief internet search) I figure the drive is about 120 miles round trip a day. So, that would be $66 a day. Divided by 4 (driver and 3 passengers) that would be $16.50 a day.
Oh, actual costs?
Prius probably gets about 50mpg. Gas is just under $4 a gallon. Based on my guess that the drive is about 120 miles round trip, that's about $9.60 a day...divided by 4, that's $2.40 a day per person. That's much more what I'd expect to spend (maybe $3 a day for the convenience of not driving) because the person would have the wear and tear and depreciation the IRS provides for in their reimbursement with or without the carpool.
Sounds like your DH is stuck unless he offers a better deal to the other carpoolers and they stage a revolt though.
Oh, and as for Julie's question...
I figure DH's car gets about 30MPG. That means it would cost him about $16 a day in gas to drive himself...so, he's still saving money carpooling at $8 a day and is saving the wear and tear on his own car (even though he is buying the driver their car)
An alternative is to rotate who drives and then no one chips in.
There's also a AAA drive cost calculator that's based on just gas, I think. You can use that to estimate.