PEOPLE WHO RIDESHARE EXPERIENCE THE BENEFITS OF REDUCED STRESS AND MEANINGFUL SOCIAL INTERACTIONS .
While financial and environmental impacts are often deciding factors for commuters who choose ridesharing , there ’ s often another unexpected improvement : wellness . Ridesharing can give passengers the chance to “ hack ” into their happiness chemicals , like dopamine and oxytocin , by using commute time to get a jump on their workday , listen to fun songs or podcasts and even meditate on their way into the office . And , people who rideshare experience the benefits of reduced stress and meaningful social interactions .
Carnabuci Fitzgerald has seen this happen time and time again over the years . “ Commuters have developed great bonds and built friendships . They ’ ve celebrated birthdays and gone to weddings and done all these fun things . It becomes an important part of their culture ,” she said .
“ When we would talk to employers , they would find that employees who vanpooled or carpooled had fewer sick days , fewer days out of the office , and came to work more productive because they were relaxed when they got there .” In fact , a 2018 study by the University of Alaska — Anchorage found that vanpoolers experienced a 21 % lower rate of commuting stress than single-occupant vehicle commuters .
Ridesharing may never fully replace single-occupancy commuting , but with the global carpooling market expected to reach $ 21 billion by 2030 , a growing number of employers are seeing the benefits of helping their employees trade costly commutes for carpools .