Less Cars, Better World

Less Cars, Better World.          One ride share at a time.

[go2gether-ca]

What Does Your Daily Commute Say About Your Favorite Sex Position?

Your commute may be say more about you than you think... 

Just in time for Valentines Day, take the quiz to find out how you like it in the bedroom by asking how you like it on the way to work. 

http://www.buzzfeed.com/luc46fbc0750/what-your-daily-commute-says-about-your-favourite-1ac1p

[go2gether-ca]

8 Awkward Moments From Your Carpool

Meeting new people is hard. And it gets even worse in carpools, when you’re stuck with your “new friends” for a few hours and things get reaaalllly awkward.

But it doesn’t have to be that way. We came up with the worst carpool scenarios and the solutions to help make them more comfortable.

Awkward Scenario #1: No one is talking.

sneerkat

Solution: Find common ground by asking them about their hometown, family, places they have travelled, or favourite episode of The Big Bang Theory. 

nocookie.net

Awkward Scenario #2: No one is answering your questions about their hometown, family, places they have travelled, or favourite episode of the The Big Bang Theory.

gyphy

Solution: Pretend you weren't ignored and just load up some music or podcast. We recommend having a variety of playlists ready for different tastes.

wordy

Awkward Scenario #3: They say silence is golden,  but not when it's because you ran out of things to talk about.

giphy

Solution: Play some games like I Spy and 20 Questions.

 gifsoup

Awkward Scenario #4: OMG there is an odd smell in the air, coming from someone...

newadnetwork

Solution: Grab a car freshener at the next stop or better yet, bring it with you just in case and gift it to them. If these are not an option, make any excuse you can to get some fresh air.

barkpost

Awkward Scenario #5: It “suddenly” smells

usatthebiglead

Solution: Shove your face in your scarf, sweater, sleeve, or coffee cup. Just anything to avoid it and Don’t - Say - Anything!!

imgur

Awkward Scenario #6: Someone is talking way too much

buzzfeed 

Solution: Know how to say “shut up” politely. If it's in your morning commute, start yawning to clue them in and slowly close your eyes. If it's your commute home after work, start yawning to clue them in and slowly close your eyes. If this is not working, just gently start to snore. If that doesn't work, pretend to wake up startled and ask if you could just nap for five minutes and rest until you get to your destination.

quizzicallama 

Awkward Scenario #7: The driver is not very good at driving

imgur 

Solution: Your life is in danger here. Ask them politely to drive more cautiously. If in doubt, just get off at the next convenient stop.

superfunnyimages 

Awkward Scenario #8: You don’t have a carpool.

mashable

Solution: Use go2gether!

[go2gether-ca]

The 4 Problems We Are Solving with Vancouver International Airport (YVR) on the Sea Island

Driving is fun. But driving to work every day, notably from across town and by yourself in traffic, can be quite difficult on the soul, the mind, and of course, the wallet. For the Sea Island's 23,000+ employees, the long solo commute presents a variety of problems and pain points. Luckily for them, YVR has recently partnered with go2gether to help mass organize various Sea Island employees into fun and efficient carpools.

Earlier this week, Airport Authority and go2gether members spent the morning out in front of the Templeton Skytrain parking lot (just outside YVR) to meet and chat with hundreds of commuters on how go2gether works. We even brought free coffee and hot chocolate!

In addition to people learning about go2gether, we learned about their four biggest commuting issues, and addressed it with the solution we provide.

Problem #1 - The Cost of Driving

Abbotsford, Delta, Port Moody, Surrey – we met people driving from all areas of the lower mainland. And what was their biggest pain point with driving solo to YVR every day? The cost of gasoline. Even these days, when the cost of gas is lower than it has been in a decade, the average cost for round-trip in a day from Surrey to YVR runs a walloping $36. See below to find out how much you pay to drive to the Airport from where you live.

_ _

Solution: If you carpool just three days per week, you can save $216 - enough to pay your car insurance! If you carpool everyday, you can save $360 every month! This is our primary objective on the Sea Island; help employees save their hard earned money.

Problem #2 - The Lack of Community

Standing out there and explaining the benefits of carpooling, a lot of employees told us they would love to carpool, but just didn’t know anyone to do it with. Technicians, retail staff, Canada Post employees; they all have friends at work, but unfortunately those pals live in the opposite direction!

Solution: go2gether is a service made specifically for this purpose – to connect people with others on the way. Even for this day, our team members, Luc and Docky discovered each other on the go2gether platform, learning that they are only five minutes away from each other!

** **

Problem #3 - The Odd Schedules

YVR is a 24/7/365 environment. It is an Airport, after all. There are folks working 8 and 12-hour shifts (some with unexpected overtime), and flight attendants leaving for weeklong trips. A big roadblock to carpooling, many told us, was the diversity of the employee shifts. How could someone book a round trip carpool if the driver is flying to Tokyo in the afternoon?

Solution: We offer flexibility. With enough users on the go2gether YVR network, any employee will be able to book a trip to and from work that is convenient for their hours. If someone works into unexpected overtime, users can be matched with another trip that fits their schedule in real time.

Problem #4 - The Long, Hard Road

The only thing worse than sitting in traffic is sitting in traffic by yourself, every day, for what seems like the whole day. Quite a few employees told us that traffic is a nightmare for them, and they would much prefer some company or even the opportunity to relax and close their eyes on the way into work.

Solution: More carpools mean fewer cars on the road and much happier people driving them. In YVR’s case, happier and well-rested employees already connected arriving to work.

[go2gether-ca]

Infographic: The Annual Cost of Commuting to Ski Hills in Vancouver

As experienced ski bums, we know very well that if there is one group that’s familiar with carpooling, it’s skiers and snowboarders!

The annual race to find out which friends want to hit the slopes and which ones actually have a car to do it is a familiar tradition to many; especially around Vancouver where many of us are just a quick drive away away from the best skiing on the planet!

To illustrate the ease and financial advantage of carpooling to ski hills in the Vancouver area, we created this infographic with our four favourite hills; Whistler, Mount Cypress, Mount Seymour and the Grouse Mountain. 

Learn more about carpooling in your area at go2gether.ca

It’s not only cheaper to grab a ride up to Whistler as a non-driver, it saves you a ton of time! Not to mention saving from cramming all your gear on a bus and lugging it up a mountain

While financial hit is not as big when traveling to one of Vancouver’s three local mountains, the most famous and popular mountain also happens to be the furthest away – Whistler. Whistler attracts more than 800,000 people a season to ride its world class slopes.If those people drove alone from Vancouver to Whistler; they would emit around 30,000 tons of CO2 per year which would take 24 Stanley Parks (24,000 acres) a whole year to disperse. 

Luckily, there are plenty of ways to share a ride up to the slopes. While public ride-matching forums like Craigslist offers a wide selection of ridesharing, go2gether offers you a chance to meet people in your community and coordinate a ride, all within a simple app. If you don’t belong to one of our partnered organizations, you can try HitchPlanet, aa free local ride-sharing service., If you can’t find a driver, consider sharing a car through Modo - they have a wide selection of roomy vehicles to fill all the empty seats and load all your gear (check out their story of #letsModo to Whistler).

Looking for a ride up to the slopes next weekend? go2gether is hitting the slopes at Cypress Mountain on February 7, 2014. Our community members and partners are all invited! RSVP here.

[go2gether-ca]

Sustainable Driving. Yes, you can!

There are so many ways to drive our cars more economically, which can dramatically reduce cost and emissions. There are many ways to reduce fuel use, and we will focus on just the larger points.

Accelerate smoothly and cruise by using less gas and to reducing the need to brake suddenly. Keep some distance between you and the car in front of you, and use the gas pedal more sparingly.

Maintain the correct air pressure in your car's tires. This can reduce your fuel consumption by 2%. Overtime, that can mean huge changes to your wallet.

Plan all of your chores and errands to be done along the same route at the same time. Did you know this is called trip chaining? Yeah, it's a thing! Impromptu trips can add up in fuel use, and is also a huge waste of your precious time. Group your appointments and combine errands. 

Use the cruise control! On the highway, it can help you reduce gas tied to have a heavy foot on the gas. (*Do not use cruise control when it is raining!)

We hope these tips will help you save a few dollars, and make a few friends along the way!

[go2gether-ca]

How Can People In Cities Share More?

So... what can cities do to become more shareable? 

Focus on the capacity of stuff, rather than the physical object itself. The example that is used most frequently is a drill. Many people have a drill, but the average use during the lifetime of a drill is only several minutes. In other words, create sharing networks where people can gain access to items and services without owning them. Ownership hardly means anything as a status symbol this day and age.

Develop technology so that members of the community can easily access sharing groups - instant ridesharing, space sharing, and service sharing. This will make sharing the best option for everyone. The most developed cities are now where sharing is common sense and the idea of owning something is no longer a status symbol. We need to embrace the technology that allows for us to put our trust back in our neighbours and create a shareable city. 

What does this mean for Vancouver?

Vancouver has proven itself several times that it is the best place on Earth to live. That being said there are so many ways that Vancouver can improve upon to become a truly shareable city. As go2gether's co-founder, Alice, puts so eloquently, Vancouver is geographically constrained. There's not a lot of wiggle room. We need to make the best of what we've got (and we've got a lot!), such as sharing our gardening spaces, our cars and our underused stuff. We should embrace our entrepreneurial spirit, support new ideas and jump into sharing concepts with both feet. Check out more sharing opportunities in Vancouver. Do you think Vancouver has what it takes and have ideas to make it even better? Vote and share on WWF's contest, WE LOVE CITIES, and make a difference!

[go2gether-ca]

Share Vancouver & go2gether

go2gether is a co-founding member of Share Vancouver!

"Here in Vancouver, The Sharing Project and other local sharing leaders have convened a working group that is working collectively to raise awareness and expand the capacity of sharing locally." Share Vancouver has met several time since Summer 2013 and is a community of sharers working collectively to raise awareness and expand the capacity for sharing locally.

Learn about about Share Vancouver and other sharing cities in the world: click here for more info!

[go2gether-ca]

Most Canadians Drive to Work Alone

    With so many reasons to alone drive less, which one hits home for you? 

Effect on the Environment and our Health. In this report,the World Health Organization has ranked air pollution (primarily caused by transportation) as a leading environmental cause of cancer deaths. As of 2013, air pollution is officially classified as carcinogenic to humans.

Cost of owning and operating a vehicle. The CAA 2013 report offers average cost of operating and owning a vehicle (about $10,000/year average!) and a way to keep track of how much your car costs per kilometre. Monetary costs are not the only costs either. Congestion and time in traffic have proven to reduce the quality of life for those in traffic. 

Going it alone. go2gether CEO Alice Park noticed after commuting to SFU campus form Surrey's Fraser Heights area everyday that there were more than 25 people in her postal code with SFU parking passes each semester. This realization spurred on the idea that better carpooling services are needed to stop this cycle of over consumption, high emissions and lower quality of life.Share the ride, share some stories and meet a new friend!

In Canada, most people drive to work... alone.

All this means that the economic and emotional burden of SOV commuting is yours and yours alone, ultimately increasing time in traffic for everyone and the harmful emissions that leads to environmental and health issues. Are you part of that number and, if so, what reason would help you change your methods?It only takes one trip per week with an alternative mode of transport (carpool, transit, bike...) to start the change.

"The disproportionate popularity of driving in the age of climate change and environmental stewardship may boil down to a single factor: time."

There is an immense sense of waste that arises seeing people drive past pedestrians waiting for a bus in the rain, as well as fellow solo drivers in traffic with you, all heading into the downtown core, when we all have plenty of seats to spare. Currently, we are wasting time, money and resources on our solo-rides, passing by a great opportunity to meet our colleagues, peers and neighbours. 

Our current state calls for a change in mindset, let's start and go2gether!

[image credit: carpoolking]

[go2gether-ca]

Vote For Us at The Small Business BC Awards!

Vote for us! We’re nominated for the Small Business BC awards for 3 categories:

- Premier’s People’s Choice

- Best Emerging Entrepreneur 

- Best Concept 

[go2gether-ca]

Discovering the New Economy

Last February 13th, go2gether had the pleasure of attending Collaborative Consumption and the Sharing Economy hosted by One Earth at the HiVE featuring April Rinne. Rinne is the Chief Strategy Officer at the Collaborative Lab and was previously featured in the post Shareable Cities. 

Having this talk hosted in Vancouver is clear evidence of how this movement is beginning to take root within the local sphere.

One of the biggest take-aways from the evening was the idea that once you put on your "collaborative consumption goggles", you can see all of the idling capacity around you as you live your life.

Suddenly, you car (that sits idle 95% of the time) can be shared, paying for itself.

Or, better yet, share a car with the modo car coop!

Your home can be rented out on Airbnb during your vacation.

You can share a ride to work with your co-workers instead of facing traffic alone with go2gether.

The Economist has valued the peer-to-peer rental market along to be worth more than $26B, so start sharing!

Rinne was clear to state that "there's nothing new about sharing", but what is new is the ability to connect people to access like never before through technology.

What's really exciting is the endless opportunities in the Sharing Economy once you put on your collaborative goggles. It's no longer a question about what can you share. The question is now what can't you share? Rinne confessed that the only two she could think of are toothbrushes and wedding rings, but I suppose it's all about your comfort level!

My latest post: Top 10 Things A City Can Do to Become A Shareable City http://t.co/NKs5RojCKO via @collcons #ShareableCities #collcons

— April Rinne (@aprilrinne) February 12, 2014

Not only is there wealth in your stuff, but the definition of livelihoods is changing as well. Movements like taskrabbit help unemployed or underemployed people earn some money whenever they can. With earning money at your convenience, and having access to whatever you need at a fraction of the cost of ownership, maybe the new economy can change the way we see livelihoods. Sharing on a daily basis could mean working less hours, paying for less, creating less waste, meeting your neighbours locally and like-minded people internationally... the list goes on!

Vancouver is en-route to becoming a truly shareable city, helping people save money, work less hours, work some hours, reduce congestion, reduce waste, be greener, be happier, be richer. The policies will change once we do. At the moment we are in a grey area, holding back the sharing economy and preventing a necessary growth and shift in our economy. We need to get out of the grey zone and into the green zone. Part of this journey requires innovative players such as Vancity, Modo Car Co-op and go2gether to challenge the status quo, collaborate to bring innovative solutions to change the traditional economic model, policies and ecosystem, and eventually eliminate the grey zone completely, which means better governance and more connected communities. Innovation requires struggle, but this innovation needs to happen.

Try using one of these sharing services this week, and share with us what you loved or would rather change. Let's create a deeper dialogue about the New Economy in Vancouver now!

[image credit: blogparser]

[go2gether-ca]

Car-Sharing in Vancouver

Modo (The Car Co-op)

Looking to support the local economy? Modo is not only the first car-co-op in Vancouver, but the first carsharing co-operative in North America and the first English-speaking carshare in the world! They are the only carsharing co-op in Vancouver that is part of a growing shared economy that believes in environmental, social and economic justice. Who wouldn’t want to be apart of this? Um, hi. Can I come too?

car2go

For all you busy bees out there this one’s for you. Need to get from downtown to kits in a flash? As the only service that offers 1-way travelling, you can grab one and leave one anywhere you please (well… not anywhere). Although one would argue that car2go trips replace ones that could easily be done by transit or cycling, there is something to be said about the convenience factor of these little smart cars, especially on a dark rainy night.  Definite cool factor. When you pass another car2go on your way, make sure to wave!

Zipcar

A little bit bigger and less community oriented, but effective nonetheless. Zipcars offer competitive rates for car usage and are conveniently located. They have an extensive fleet in multiple cities, so if you travel often and need a car for a day this one’s for you!  Coming soon: one way zipcar! Similar to car2go, you can grab it, drive it and leave it.

[go2gether-ca]

Motordom and the War on Cars

Who's lane is it anyway?

Cars today have all the rights.

Motordom has changed the way we see cars. We live now in a motor-centric society, where the issues with cars that have always existed are now seen as "normal", and the burden and responsibility are placed on those outside of the safe confines of the car: the cyclists and the pedestrians. 

The "War on Cars" The hyperbolic and overhyped “War on Cars” (circa 2010) that swept through cities like Seattle and Toronto in two very different ways, but creating huge debates in both. A recent article by David Suzuki argues that there never was a war on cars, but that there should be.

From the Toronto Resistance Blog showing the separation of two types  of people in Toronto: bike people and car people

Seattle: Mayor McGinn tried to reduce the amount of cars on the road by increasing parking fees and fines, and by enforcing strict penalties for too many tickets or ignoring new regulations. Now, after just 4 parking tickets, car owners run the risk of losing their cars to auction. With the highest parking fees in North America, Seattle has seen a dramatic increase in bicycle and public transit use. The Mayor strongly believes that reducing dependence on cars is the way of the future.  Toronto: For a city with progressive bikesharing, they sure can’t get this bike lane thing right. The Mayor has taken a personal offence to everyone who uses their bike to get around. Mayor Ford has demonized bikers, and has separated the population into ‘bike’ people and ‘car’ people, creating an animosity, that Ford claims to be a product of the cyclists. Ford uses the alleged “war on cars” to launch his own “war on bikes”, wiping out bike lanes and speaking publicly how bikes are a “pain in the ass”. He even brings his friends into it, with Don Cherry callously calling bikers “pinkos” like it was the worst thing to be. Don’t get on a bike or you’re a socialist! ‘Bike’ people are people too, and cities should look out for the best interests of everyone, no matter what their personal views. Where does Vancouver stand? Let’s hope Vancouver is more like Seattle. The video below on the projected growth of Vancouver (despite the bland voice over if I may add) provides a staggering visualization of Vancouver’s future if we continue down this road. We literally can't fit the amount of cars that come with an increased population on our roads. Motordom is old news; instead of a war on cars, how about we focus on simply making alternative transport easier and more accessible?

[go2gether-ca]

Lessons Learned Along A Social Entrepreneur's Journey

Alice's reflections inspired by the RADIUS Failure Wake

Aim to succeed by successfully failing. Parker Palmer, an author, educator and activist I follow, writes that we are often whiplashed “between arrogant overestimation of ourselves and a servile underestimation of ourselves.” I learned to not judge anyone based on their failure to meet their very noble goals. People are working and living in deeply intractable systems. What more can we ask from those who struggle to activate positive change? Even if someone is not making a career out of changing the broken systems of which we find ourselves a part, every day and everywhere, I am surrounded by people rooting their self-esteem in the daily acts by trying to be more compassionate, empathetic, and just. We may fail, but this isn’t to say we should give up on our craziest dreams and noble goals.

Shed the ideals. For a long time, I was afraid to compromise my values, hide my intentions sometimes merely to fit in, and lose the ability to speak the truth. However, I found that shedding the ideals don’t necessarily lead to all these consequences as long as I surround myself with friends, supporters, collaborators and even competitors whose goals and visions align with mine. I learned to shed the ideals in order to leave myself in a much better position to embrace a realistic vision for my team and myself. This realistic vision does not restrict my ability to dream, but clearly guides me on where to deploy time, energy and investment.

Be pragmatic about the smallness of one and maintain faith in the greatness of all. When I started go2gether and to this day, I believe we will change the world. But I’m not going to lie – there are many moments where I feel powerless and revisit the dark times where I felt like nothing I do matters. Then, I remember that a big part of go2gether’s successes are not due to the cleverness of the idea or brilliance of our team. We are fortunate to tackle a problem that has long been tackled previously by many others; thus, we are hugely privileged to learn from their failures. The successes of go2gether and other successes of similar initiatives would not have happened without the efforts of all the transportation geeks, entrepreneurs and engineers in the past that strived to make carpooling mainstream in order to provide access to more sustainable mode of transportation and thus, empower individuals to be more multi-modal. 

Stories of Mohandas Gandhi, Gloria Steinem, and Nelson Mandela tell us that individuals are not always so small, but there is a problem in modelling ourselves after a vague romantic ideal. Instead, let’s remind ourselves that we are living in an extraordinary time led and influenced by many as Peter Diamandis describes Abundance is our Future. Over the last hundred years, the average human lifespan has more than doubled and childhood mortality has come down a factor of 10. Steve Pinker has showed us that we’re living during the most peaceful time ever in human history and Charles Kenny that global literacy has gone from 25% to over 80%.  It is through these three key reminders that, while I still feel overwhelmed and desperate, I have developed resilience to do what I believe I can do along with many others intersecting my path.

Our fabulous failers at Radius SFU FailureWake telling us stories of their failed #SocEnt businesses. Failing is just a stepping stone to what you are meant to do. Wise words.

[go2gether-ca]

Radius Demo Night

"Now, we’re a robust team of five, still getting paid way below what we could make elsewhere, but dedicated to make a difference. We may not have really fancy degrees or years of experience from Amazon or Google but as I said in my last presentation in January, I believe that it’s the passionate amateurs that make a difference. And that’s us. So thank you so much for all your support and coming out tonight."

This speech was presented by go2gether co-founder and CEO, 

Alice Park at the Radius Cohort Celebration on May 15th, 2014

[go2gether-ca]

Bike Sharing in Vancouver

Bike Share Toronto (formerly Bixi)

Bike sharing is no new phenomena. Over the past century or so, varieties of the current model have tried to move the masses. With multiple failures and lessons along the way, in conjunction with new technology and the erupting collaborative economy, bike sharing has reached a tipping point. Public Bike Sharing (PBS) can now be easily introduced to any city and significantly increase accessibility and ease of commute for residents and tourists.  On the fence? Filled with “what about”s and “what if”s? Many of your questions have already been thought about and implemented in the plan. The following is only part of the list of impact mitigation the proposal discusses.

What about helmet laws? There will be helmet vending machines at each station. When you return a helmet, they will be sanitized and checked for safety. Or, you know, just bring your own.

What if the PBS gets in the way of current bike rental businesses? The Vancouver plan is going to target residents and commuters, meaning that stations won’t be front and centre around Stanley Park and other popular tourist locations.

What about bike shops? Bike stations won’t be within 50m of current bike stores. Bike shops will also be consulted before a station is added near them.

Want more information? Check out the full report to see exactly what is happening next year in Vancouver.

[go2gether-ca]

Global Gridlock

Times are changing. At the current growth rate, the Earth’s population could reach up to 9.6 billion people by 2050. Not only does exponential population growth demand more resources to meet it, it also means that more cars will be unleashed onto our already congested roads. In fact, the amount of cars hitting the pavement could reach up to 2 to 4 billion cars from today’s count of 800 million by mid-century.

Every single person in this traffic jam helped make it. 

Hate Traffic? You just wait. Traffic isn't going to get any better - unless something changes drastically. So how are we going to avoid our looming fate of Global Gridlock? The idea of the entire planet being stuck in traffic is one that none of us want to see happen. Like many of the World's bigger issues, there is no single solution. To really save our bacon, we need to combine a multitude of ideas and tools, on a variety of scales. Many are looking to electric vehicles to pave the way to a greener future. Unfortunately, cleaner cars may not be the solution here because electric cars don’t take cars off the road, and will still contribute to gridlock. 

“Frankly, four billion clean cars on the road are still four billion cars, and a traffic jam with no emissions is still a traffic jam.”

The bright side...

The millennials don’t seem too keen on buying cars like their parents did, giving some hope to reducing cars on the road. 

There are alternatives. Technology is enabling us to connect with our neighbours and share rides. Carpooling will help cut down on the daily gridlock and dependancy on individually owned cars. There are various options for carpooling depending on your location or trip type. For long distance, once-in-a-while trips, try Pogoride to find rides in the Pacific North-West. For your daily commute, there are services such as go2gether or carma that match you with commuters in your network, who are already heading your way. 

Carsharing services such as car2go, zipcar and modo car co-op allow people to have access to a car just when they need one, rather than using their car for every single trip. 

Traffic is a nonlinear phenomena, meaning that by reducing traffic by even a small amount can have significant impact (note that this also works in the opposite way). Something such as congestion charges could be the answer. 

Car sales may slow naturally, as more of the world’s population move into cities. Some new urban mobility modelssuggest that car sales will drop by 30% by 2020.

We have to think big picture. Cars are not the only problem. Infrastructure, technology and planning can have huge impact on both creating and avoiding congestion. Imagine avoiding driving around the block a couple times to find a parking spot because your car has already reserved one for you. Or knowing when the best time to leave a conference is by considering the schedule of everyone at the event. There are countless ways that better systems can change the way cities see their traffic, we just have to start using them! “We are looking at the emergence of a car 2.0 -- a whole new market, a whole new business model.”

[go2gether-ca]

Sharing is Caring

Alice and Madelyn from go2gether carpool in a car2go! The perfect marriage of two collaborative groups in harmony.