# car pooling

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/car-pooling/86321>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [October 9, 2001, 2:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/car-pooling/86321 "2001-10-09T14:04:47Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![vanilla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/f19dbf/32.png) [@vanilla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vanilla)\
**Post date:** [October 9, 2001, 2:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/car-pooling/86321/1 "2001-10-09T14:04:47Z")

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On a related note to my speed limit thread,  
how much gas would we save if everyone who could, carpooled?  
Were saying 4 to a car, living nearby each other.  
Can someone do the math?

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**Author:** ![winky99](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/71c47a/32.png) [@winky99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/winky99)\
**Post date:** [October 9, 2001, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/car-pooling/86321/2 "2001-10-09T14:20:51Z")

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Well, if we’re talking 4-5, I’d say the savings would be about 3/4 - 4/5 of the gas currently consumed.

::waits to be proven wrong::

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**Author:** ![heptapod](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a88e4f/32.png) [@heptapod](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/heptapod)\
**Post date:** [October 9, 2001, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/car-pooling/86321/3 "2001-10-09T15:57:16Z")

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I would think gas consumption would be about the same as it is right now because cars would be hauling more weight, requiring more acceleration so fill ups would be more frequent though the hit on the wallet wouldn’t be as painful since there would be four or more people covering the cost.

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**Author:** ![Jinx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Jinx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jinx)\
**Post date:** [October 9, 2001, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/car-pooling/86321/4 "2001-10-09T16:09:05Z")

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> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by heptapod \*  
> \*\*I would think gas consumption would be about the same as it is right now because cars would be hauling more weight, requiring more acceleration so fill ups would be more frequent though the hit on the wallet wouldn’t be as painful since there would be four or more people covering the cost. \*\*

Yes, one car for carpooling would see an increase in the mass of passengers, but the mass of the engine block stays the same! So, I’m not so eager to say it’s a wash…

- Jinx

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**Author:** ![lucwarm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e19adc/32.png) [@lucwarm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lucwarm)\
**Post date:** [October 9, 2001, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/car-pooling/86321/5 "2001-10-09T18:48:40Z")

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> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by vanilla \*  
> \*\*On a related note to my speed limit thread,  
> how much gas would we save if everyone who could, carpooled?  
> \*\*

I’d like to get a grip on the phrase “everyone who could”

What I mean is, there are many people who **could** carpool, but, as a practical matter, it would be so inconvenient as to be basically impossible.

For example, many people work unpredictable schedules.

Also, my guess is that adding more passengers to a car wouldn’t hurt fuel economy that much. Consider that the total weight of (car + passengers) would not be much greater, and that the aerodynamic properties of the car would be the same.