Offer A Spare Seat On Your Next Long Drive
You're driving there anyway with three empty seats - fill them, split the fuel, and cut the emissions per person by three quarters.
- Cost
- Free
- Time
- Half-day
- People
- Solo / Duo, Small Group (3-6)
- Where
- Anywhere
- Bring
- Nothing in particular
Why this matters
A car with one person in it produces roughly the same emissions as a car with four - the difference is that the second one has replaced three other journeys. Long-distance travel is also expensive enough that plenty of people simply don't make trips they'd like to make. Filling empty seats is one of the rare things that cuts cost, emissions and isolation simultaneously.
How to do it
Next time you're driving somewhere - a few hours to see family, a weekend away, a move across the country - offer the empty seats.
The easiest route is a ridesharing platform like BlaBlaCar, where you list the journey and passengers pay a share of the fuel. But it works just as well informally: post in a local group, a university forum, a work channel, or just ask around. Plenty of people are quietly trying to get to the same place.
Things worth thinking about: - Agree the cost split up front so nobody's awkward about it later. Fuel and tolls divided by heads is the normal standard - this isn't a taxi and shouldn't be priced like one. - If you're using a platform, use its messaging and payment system rather than moving off it. That's where the review history and dispute process live. - Meet somewhere public and sensible for pickup. - Say up front what the deal is - music, breaks, whether you want to chat or drive in silence. Everyone's happier when it's stated.
If you're using an informal route rather than a platform, use normal judgement about who you're getting in a car with, and tell someone your plans. Same as any lift you'd accept or offer.