Be on the lookout for car collectives. Sometimes PIRG (Public Interest Research Group) members start their own, and have worked out the logistics. When I lived in a twin-cities area of about 240,000, there was one group with about 100 cars. The fact is, if you are comfortable with it, you can lend out your car to a collective and earn some money. If there isn’t one in your area, consider forming one with other partners as a non-profit entity, if you have the time and inclination. You can still pay yourself a salary from the operation.

I never joined, but the car collective in my area required a $500 deposit and a relatively small per-usage fee. And if there was a situation where you only wanted one-way use of a vehicle, they’d try to find someone to meet you.

An alternative for students, at least in Canada, is a ride-share program. It’s been about ten years, but when I was visiting Montreal, Quebec frequenctly, I provided a few rides from Toronto, Ontario, and enjoyed some cash for the effort. The riders were students, and the trip cost less than a bus ride.

Thanks Again

I especially liked the fact that you mention using public transit for work related transport needs. My husband uses the bus to go back and forth to work; he buys a monthly transit pass. I work casually and I tend to buy bus tickets for the days I work rather than a bus pass. This one step has saved us a small but significant amount for the insurance on our minivan which we now use solely to transport our boys to school, go grocery shopping or vacations. In addition, with gasoline prices the way they are, using the car only occasionally helps us to save some money in terms of fuel costs.

We also got rid of one car and now just have the minivan. If we lived closer to work, it would be the best possible scenario for decreasing car related costs, since we could just walk to work but unfortunately, it is just too expensive to buy a house near to where my husband works. So using the bus, using the minivan infrequently and hopefully, in the near future trading in the gas guzzling minivan for a smaller model car, will be effective measures at controlling the costs of driving.

An auto sharing collective within an extended family could also be a way of shaving costs; one car is shared between grandparents, kids and grandkids. This might get a trifle hairy in terms of scheduling though!