by mattchristensen00 | May 20, 2015 |
By Crissinda Ponder Editor’s note: Each week, one of Bankrate’s personal finance reporters is sharing a new way to save and chronicling the savings journey. This week, I’m reporting on the experience I had as a car pool participant. Read on to see what happened. If you’re like me, you’re probably not a fan of the daily work commute drama: the accidents that attract slow-driving rubberneckers and make you late to the office, the psychos swerving from lane to lane, the people feeding their face or applying makeup. But having a co-worker along for the ride makes things a little less insufferable. Ready to save some money (and potentially retain your sanity)? Maybe it’s time to try carpooling. To read more about the Savings Challenge, click...
by mattchristensen00 | Sep 12, 2014 |
By Caroline Said California regulators told Uber, Lyft and Sidecar that their new carpool options are a no-go because they violate a state law against charging different fares to passengers in a hired vehicle. The companies and transit experts condemned the move as squashing an environmentally friendly option. But it turns out that the California Public Utilities Commission, which sent warning letters to the companies last week, merely wants to spur them to get legislators to overhaul the law. “Our hands are tied,” said Marzia Zafar, PUC director of policy and planning. “We wanted to make the letter public to let the (ride companies) and the Legislature know that there is this code. It may be outdated; it may not. The Legislature will have to review it and make a judgment call.” Current law “strictly prohibits a charter party carrier from charging passengers on an individual-fare basis,” said the letters, available at http://tinyurl.com/lxmvh8n. “The commission lacks the flexibility to allow a transportation service that is contrary to the statute.” That law was written to prevent limo drivers from poaching passengers from shared vans like Super Shuttle, Zafar said. “Maybe this is an opportune time to review the code,” she said. Sources said that Uber is preparing a detailed explanation of why it believes it already complies with the law. The company was typically provocative in a prepared response. “We thought we had seen it all, and then the California PUC decided they would try to shut down app-based carpooling,” Uber wrote. “The only conclusion we can come to is that the PUC doesn’t like technology, environmental progress, or anything...
