GLEE launches online car pooling

Service available throughout Keys

             As the price of gasoline continues to rise, people in the Keys who commute are finding getting to work more and more expensive. Seeing the need, Green Living and Energy Education (GLEE) has launched a computerized, online carpool service that matches drivers with riders.

            The new service, located at www.carpoolworld.com/keysglee, is completely free. It offers a secure way for people who want to share rides and gasoline expenses to find others who travel the same route they do. Whether the commute is 50 miles or under a mile, any Keys resident can register to share rides and save money.

            Registered users simply log in and enter the street addresses of their homes and destinations (places of work), and then the system instantly shows them a list of similar trips from the stored database. The trips are also displayed visually on detailed maps. Then users can contact each other by phone or email to set up a ride-sharing arrangement. The service is primarily intended for commuters, but will work for any type of trip including one-time trips.

            It costs nothing to register for the service and all email addresses are completely secure. Users may want to get to know each other via email before committing to sharing a ride and this service makes that easy to do.

            “We know that many people who live in the Keys travel long distances between keys,” said GLEE president Alison Higgins. “With gasoline so expensive, carpooling makes incredible sense. In addition, our islands get the added benefit of fewer greenhouse gas emissions, less traffic and less pollution. Everyone wins.”

            The service is not only available for commuters. People can look for rides for a single trip. In addition, anyone who organizes a "one-time" event and would like to promote carpooling to that event, can submit a listing for free. There will also be a calendar of events that others have registered on the site. These might include concerts, festivals, weddings, parties, conferences or picnics.

            The carpool site, created by Carpoolworld.com, is completely computerized and uses GPS data to find nearby commuters. As the list of those who are registered members increases, users will find more and more matches for their desired commutes.

            Those who have questions about this new carpool service or need more information can write to carpool@keysglee.com. For more information about GLEE, go to www.keysglee.com.