Canadian province Ontario is to introduce green-coloured licence plates, available only to drivers of plug-in hybrids and battery-powered electric vehicles.

Sounds like another gimmick? Well, here’s the deal - vehicles sporting the new green plates will be able to drive in the province’s dedicated carpool lanes until 2015, even if only one person is in the vehicle.

Speaking about the initiative, Transportation Minister Jim Bradley said, “The McGuinty government’s plan is to have one out of every 20 passenger vehicles on Ontario’s roads an electric vehicle by 2020.”

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In California, the CNG conversion qualifies Carl Tankersley to drive solo in those highly desirable diamond lanes. Yet, although he prominently displays his carpool and CNG stickers as required by law, that doesn’t seem to be enough to stop the cops from disturbing his 30 minute commute on a fairly regular basis.

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The ridesharing website PickupPal (as reported in a previous post) was struck down by a Canadian court in a case brought against them by bus giant Trentway-Wagar. The company took PickupPal to the Highway Transport Board complaining that the ride-matching service fell afoul of the province’s obscenely strict ride-sharing laws which were adopted in the 1970s.

Sit down, these rules are crazy (it’s like those crazy sodomy laws no one follows):

• You must travel from home to work only - nowhere else!
• You cannot cross municipal boundaries
• You must ride with the same driver each day
• You must pay the driver no more frequently than weekly

The issue is not only that PickupPal’s site allows drivers and passengers to connect for carpooling. While it is up to the users to determine compensation, apparently the site “does nothing to check on insurance, roadworthiness of the vehicles, driving history, or anything else.” This worried the Highway Transport Board most.

As we all know that carpooling or public transport can lead to things like decapitation or movies like Speed - no one wants that. So the court ruled that PIckupPal owes CAN$2,836.07 to the province and another CAN$8,500 to Trentway-Wagar.

But Trentway-Wagar says its beef was simply that it is unfair they have to meet labor, environmental, and equipment standards to haul passengers around when services like PickupPal can arrange rides without doing any of that. Hey, I can get behind that (insert sodomy joke here).

And while your inner-hippy might be annoyed by this bump in the road, know that small (and totally unlicensed) businesses have developed around websites like this, and Craigslist. And it’s these illegal ventures that have led to serious tragedies in the past.

Image: Mr. T in DC on Flickr under Creative Commons

Elections are always riddled with controversy over voting. There’s that whole Bush stolen election thing (I think he did it), voting machine accuracy and the latest GOP attacks on voter’s rights brought to light by the ACLU.

Yes, it seems the Republicans will do almost anything to keep voters away from the polls. Of course, they aren’t the only ones.

So how can you fight back? Well, you cannot actually vote twice - that would be illegal and very very wrong. But you can carpool to your voting booth, ensuring other greenies like yourself vote yes on good green policy and save fuel along the way! And Al Gore’s Live Earth has partnered with Zimride.com to help you out.

Carpolling, if you will.

Image source: © Miflippo | Dreamstime.com

Carpool to work. Even if it is just a couple of times a week, sharing a ride with a spouse, neighbor or coworker can cut down on gas costs, and may even make your ride faster if your route involves an interstate or freeway with an HOV lane. And keep in mind that you don’t have to work at the same building or live on the same street to carpool if you live or work in areas near those with similar commutes.

Carpool to school. If you take your kids to school every day, you probably pass other moms and dads who do the same thing. See if there are other families in your neighborhood that you can trade off days of taking the kids to school. (Just make sure everybody is ready on time.) You also might want to consider carpooling with other families for after school activities or weekend soccer games.

Carpool for fun. Instead of meeting your friends at an event, drive together. If you’re going to a concert or major sporting event for example, parking can be a nightmare. Meet up at someone’s house and drive together.

Carpool on vacation. You wouldn’t normally think about carpooling with people outside your family when taking a road trip, but you might be able to find someone going your way. ZipCar founder, Robin Chase, began GoLoco to help you create your own personal transportation network to find people in your area who want to share the ride.

More from Green Options:

Daily Tip: I HOV You

Carpooling is great for the environment, and your wallet. By sharing a ride with people coming and going in the same basic direction, you save on gas and help decongest roads. And who knows, your stress level just might go down. Wikipedia suggests that there is even another element involved: "Carpools may provide social connections in an increasingly disconnected society." Sure, we'll buy that. But we're not going to sell the benefits too much - they are obvious.

So why don't more people carpool? We're pretty sure it boils down to the fear of lack of independence. You're concerned that if you need to go somewhere, or leave early or late - then what will you do? Our suggestion is to try it before you knock it. Many cities and states run official carpool programs. They allow you to type in your starting point and destination, and receive a list of available rides, or requested rides that fit your needs. Some even provide a certain number of taxi coupons per year, in case you need to go home early or late one day.

Find any official programs by searching for carpool, vanpool, or rideshare in your local area. Also check out the Rideshare Directory for national and state listings of services. Plus, to get your carpool started off in the right direction, check out Wikipedia's Steps to Carpooling Success, which includes discussing "possible irritants" like cell phone use or smoking.

Okay, we said we weren't going to sell you, but money talks. Calculate your potential savings.

Rebecca says: Imagine what our roads would be like if everyone carpooled. Imagine getting to work faster because you can ride in the carpool lane. Speaking as someone that has no commute - if you can't live near where you work, do what you can to make your trip less costly to the environment, your pocketbook, and your time. Who knows, you might just gain an extra hour or two of your life back everyday.

Have you ever sat stuck in traffic for hours and noticed how many empty seats there are for every driver on the road?

This observation is exactly what prompted Oakland-resident Stephen Cataldo to found SpaceShare, the green carpool, rideshare, and travel hub for conferences and festivals around the country. Operating from the simple goal to have “less cars. more community,” SpaceShare provides access for various festival and conference-goers to connect with fellow greenies or music lovers while saving on gas and reducing pollution.

Stephen Cataldo rightly observes that “People travel to festivals and conferences to connect. Yet their travels are often uncoordinated, lonely and expensive.” And this is exactly what SpaceShare seeks to address by giving people a digital space to meet, connect, and arrange for rideshares to their favorite events.

I first found out about SpaceShare while looking for a ride to last year’s SolFest. Living in the Bay Area, I am lucky enough to rely on my bike and public transit for all of my transportation needs… That is, until I need to get to the latest green event outside of public transport limits!

Finding my ride through SpaceShare couldn’t have been easier and more fun. Through the rideshare link provided on the Solfest website, I entered a quick blurb about myself and the dates/place I needed a ride for, then scoured the list of drivers leaving from the Bay Area who were offering space in their car. The people I eventually found for the 3-hour trip up to SolFest were some of coolest, funniest, greenest people I’ve met out here. In fact, they’ve since become some of my closest friends. If you’re interested in learning more about SpaceShare’s latest activities, or to get involved, please visit www.spaceshare.com.