Pierrefonds-Roxboro pitches car pooling

By Kevin Woodhouse, October 17th, 2012

Now that the borough of Pierrefonds-Roxboro is the first of 19 boroughs on the island of Montreal to offer a car pooling platform to its citizens and employees, Mayor Monique Worth is hoping that the 12 reserved car pooling parking spots that have been available for the last three years in the borough will finally be used to capacity.
Worth, along with members of council and city employees, introduced the new car pooling platform Monday morning in the borough's reserved parking lot for car poolers located in the east side of the fire station on Pierrefonds Boulevard.
The borough has joined up with Internet platform The Carpooling Network that offers those who want to drive or be a passenger a complete network of service for citizens who want to use their car less and take advantage of more public transportation.
"This new Internet program is a good tool to compliment our public transportation initiatives," Worth told the assembled.  "It is easy to sign up and is free to use to find either passengers or drivers."
One of the site's advantages is a calculator that easily breaks down costs per trip so dividing the amount used per riders is equitable.  The calculator also lets you know how much, as a driver, one spends on the upkeep and running a car every year as well as how much CO2 is released into the atmosphere.
Worth remarked that the new car pooling system goes hand in hand with the borough's goal of sustainable development as it was noted that if one driver took one passenger on all trips, a yearly savings of $2,800 could be saved by the car owner.
Registering is easy as demonstrated by Pier-Olivier Girard of The Carpooling Network who signed up via laptop explaining that all information on the site was confidential and that a mobile app for the service was coming soon.
"Now we can all go to work together and set a good example," Worth quipped to her council members in attendance.
To sign up and use the Carpooling Network in Pierrefonds-Roxboro, register at pfds-rox.carpoolingnetwork.com.