sean_barnes24•7d agoMost Upvoted

My neighborhood cut car trips by 40% with one simple trick

I live in Portland and our block had a car problem. Everyone driving solo to the store 2 blocks away. Started a group text for errands last March. Now we coordinate grocery runs and school drop-offs. Saved me $60 on gas last month alone. Has anyone else tried a carpool chat for their street?

3 comments

3 Comments

abby_cooper7d ago

Wait, doesn't that just make it harder to run errands on your own schedule? I've seen group texts like that fall apart fast because someone always ends up waiting 20 minutes for the other person to finish shopping. Plus what about when you need something quick but the group trip isn't for another two hours. Seems like the time lost waiting around cancels out any gas money saved.

jenny_lane127d agoMost Upvoted

My neighbor actually talked me into trying this last month and I was totally against it at first. She kept saying how much she saved on gas and I just thought no way that's worth the hassle. But then my car needed a repair and I had to ride with her to the grocery store for a few weeks and honestly it worked way smoother than I expected. We set a hard 15 minute timer on our phones so nobody is wandering around forever waiting on the other person. Plus we both started keeping a running list on our fridge of stuff we need so we're not scrambling for last minute things. It's not perfect for every trip but for the big weekly runs it really does save money and I actually kind of enjoy the company now.

tessaperry6d ago

Jenny's 15 minute timer is a solid idea... I feel like that's where most of these setups fail, when one person gets stuck waiting. It's honestly impressive you got your block to commit to the group text at all, mine barely responds to the HOA emails. I've seen too many of these chats fizzle out because someone gets frustrated and then nobody wants to suggest it again.