From saving money to reducing your carbon footprint,
carpooling offers many benefits over commuting alone.
- Save money: By sharing expenses with other commuters, carpooling saves money on gas, car wear & tear and parking fees. Try 511.org’s carpool calculator to measure the money and emissions you could save by carpooling.
- Reduce traffic congestion: Nobody likes to sit in traffic. By carpooling, you’re doing your part to reduce the number of cars on the road. The more people who make that choice, the less traffic congestion there will be.
- Help protect the environment: Fewer cars on the road also means less air pollution, including carbon emissions that contribute to climate change.
- Reduce stress: Driving can be extremely stressful. Sharing driving responsibilities with other commuters gives you a chance to sit back, relax and enjoy the ride. Once you try it, you may find it’s hard to go back to commuting alone.
- Meet new people: Carpooling is a great way to make new friends and start new professional relationships.
Scoop Commute
If you are looking to carpool to or from Berkeley Lab, the Lab has partnered with Scoop Commute. Scoop Commute matches you with co-workers and neighbors going the same way. You can use the app as a passenger or driver.
Scoop Commute dynamically matches you with others on each trip. In the app, you make a request by 9pm for the morning commute to the Lab and by 2pm for the afternoon commute home from the Lab. Scan the QR code to get started.
Berkeley Lab employees receive excellent benefits when carpooling with Scoop. Both drivers and riders will see the benefit values in the app (please note that you must be registered with your @lbl.gov email address).
You can get the app in the iPhone or Android app stores or by scanning the QR code.
Carpool Parking
Main Lab Site
Designated carpool spaces are marked at numerous parking areas on the Hill. These spaces are reserved until 10:00am (Monday through Friday) for vehicles with two or more occupants. Vehicles must display a valid Carpool Temporary parking permit issued at a Lab gate.
View a map of the Lab’s designated carpool spaces.
How to get your Carpool Parking Permit for the day:
- Pull up to the gate in the badge holders lane, badge in with your passenger, and let site security know you need a carpool permit for the day.
- Site security will verify your badges, ensure at least one person has general hours parking access, and log the permit remotely with the Site Operations Center.
- Receive your physical carpool permit from site security and drive to a designated carpool space available at numerous parking areas on the Lab’s hillsite. Make sure to display your permit.
Park & Ride
The Bay Area has over 150 FREE Park & Ride lots, with 20 in Alameda and Contra Costa Counties.
Visit Park & Ride Lots | 511.org to learn more.
Guaranteed Ride Home Programs
Guaranteed or Emergency Ride Home Programs offer the reassurance that you can get home in case of an emergency like illness, family crisis, or unforeseen overtime when you’ve taken an alternative mode of travel to work such as transit, a carpool, vanpool, or bike. All nine Bay Area counties offer a Guaranteed Ride Home program. Some counties require pre-registration.
Visit Guaranteed and Emergency Ride Home Programs | 511.org for more information.
