Dare to share

[The Intersect Crew]

Do you have a car? Is it robust and rugged and covered in mudded or is it a single-passenger model that sits in the drive when it’s not taking you to work? Sadly, our car-use is rarely like it is in the adverts. Where is the well-adjusted family? Wherein the bunch of bright-eyed friends? What happened to off-roading through valleys and plumes of fire? Hmm. If you've ever sat in a gridlock full of irate, overweight commuters, you'll know you were sold a whopper.

Every day there are 38 million empty car seats on the UK roads. Join a Car Pool. It's easy to do. Just find out if anyone's going your way, then share the journey, the petrol and the gossip. Better still, join a lift sharing site. Or best of all, share your car with a bunch of bright-eyed mates, or ditch the car altogetherand hop around the city.

We're all about the sharing. Sharing power drills and sharing skills, offering couches and splitting the bills. We're getting creative around consumption. And saying, 'Open source? But of course.' The peak oil pinch is one very real reason. But another is that good old fashioned glow that comes from being part of a community (a community with a more interesting fridge/wardrobe/garden shed than you.)

So this month, we're sharing our toys. We're wondering aloud why there aren't any communal, street sheds? And persuading people to part with their sandwiches with our anti-currency cheques. We have the best sites on the information highway for sharing things - from lifeskills and pads to secrets. As well as reams and reams of everyday actions that you would otherwise miss if you were busy, grumpily guarding your patch.

'People say New Yorkers can't get along' Says David Letterman. 'Not true. I saw two New Yorkers, complete strangers, sharing a cab the other day. One guy took the tires and the radio, the other guy took the engine.' Start a car pool instead. No crowbar required.

The team - www.wearewhatwedo.org

[Sarah van Iddekinge]

Also along these lines is 'Freeconomy', where you join the site, and promote it within your community so there are people to trade with. Things like sharing skills, vegetables, tools, plots of land, babysitting - a painter could swap a job with a gardener. The whole idea is based around having a moneyless economy.

http://www.justfortheloveofit.org/

[Nick Potter]

Or simply set up your own Car Share (sharing the cost of car ownership and use with friends in your neighbourhood). This post explains how we did it in Wellington.

[Nick Potter]

Cooreea - the collaborative transport network - is another useful site in NZ.

[Jonathan Slason]

What about about a 'bike bus'? I like the idea of teaming up with a crew that may bike your way to work. The team can pick up people along the way and build mass and support by biking in a group. Anyone interested from Parnell to K-road?

[Lalita Heymanns]

Jonathan, that bike bus idea sounds great - just what I've been thinking of recently. I'd like to meet some more bike riders or bmxers to go for rides with on the weekends. I suppose Frocks on Bikes is a great way to start.

[Jonathan Slason]

cool stuff. Yea, my partner and I have road bikes if you are keen to go for a ride. We don't quite do the BMX thing, and we still have our Mtn bikes across the ocean.