Who wouldn’t want more money to spend in restaurants, bars and hotels?

That’s the question asked by a group of students behind www.carpoolufv.com, a new database helping UFV students from across the region click, connect, and car pool — potentially saving millions of dollars, litres and CO2 emissions each year.

“It’s a resource to find people,” explains UFV Carpool president Ryan Morris.

“If students get on board, basically we can become a leader and set the bar for other universities.”

The idea was borne after Morris heard about Project Change, a contest through linkBC that bills itself as a competition enabling B.C. tourism students to become leaders and agents for positive change in the world innovative (www.projectchange.ca). Combining forces with two UFV Hospitality Event Planning students, Morris and three other UFV Electrical students settled on basing their application on creating a regional carpool connection network. Since that inception, the group has made their website live, and compiled an impressive collection of projections outlining  what a successful carpool would mean to students’ pocketbooks, not to mention the environment.

Projections are broken down to include participation levels between 15,000 and 750 students (100% to 5% of UFV’s student population).  They include a variety of automobiles, from 4-cylinder hybrids to 8-cylinder trucks.

Morris hopes UFV students sign on and show support ahead of Project Change’s April 19 deadline.

According to UFV Student Union Society president Shane Potter, Carpool UFV is a registered SUS club, and though supported by UFV’s SUS, the carpool project is separate from the shuttle bus pilot project connecting the Chilliwack and Abbotsford campuses.

Morris’ group intends to create a user-generated system of ride sharing that leaves coordination, pick-up and campus destination entirely in students’ hands.  Simply add your name to the list, meet up, and save money.

For more, visit www.carpoolufv.com or www.facebook.com/UFVCarpool.