The increase of gasoline prices has perked up people's interest again in joining a carpool. While most promotions for getting into a carpool are focused more on saving gas expenses and lessening air pollution, there are really some advantages to this commuting alternative that most people do rarely notice. One of these is the reduction that it can cause when it comes to having your own car. You can lower you monthly car insurance premiums through lesser mileage on your car and you can save up on parking fees and maintenance expenses as well. There are even some instances when a family could get rid of one of their cars or get a cheaper one because of carpooling.

In places where there are lanes available for high occupancy vehicle or HOV, carpooling can definitely decrease your travel time. In fact, if carpoolers would just increase by a small percent, this would already create a big difference when it comes to the congestion of traffic, especially in areas where traffic jams are notorious.

Another great thing about carpooling, that few people take notice of is the chance for commuters to just sit back and relax instead of facing horrendous traffic while driving their own car. While others can read a book, others can just take a nap or listen to some music. With the presence of portable music players, fellow commuters don't have to fight as to what radio stations they would listen to, they could just whip out their iPods or MP3 players and listen to their own kind of music during the ride.