Carpooling

There are several benefits to carpooling:  

  • Reduce air pollution caused by vehicular travel, thereby improving air quality for everyone   

  • Increase your social circle at work by meeting coworkers that live near you  

  • Reduce traffic congestion  

  • Save money by sharing the gas and parking bill  

  • Take advantage of the carpool lane and Waterloo’s preferential parking  

Preferential parking program  

Preferential parking is reserved exclusively for eligible carpool groups between 7:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m. every weekday. Carpoolers that have registered as a carpool group with the Sustainable Transportation office and received a carpool permit are entitled to use these spaces.   

For a carpool group to be formally recognized, it must meet the following eligibility criteria:   
  

  • You must have a minimum of two months of active parking on campus prior to applying for a carpool group.  

  • Carpool groups must always have a minimum of two active carpool members.  

  • Members must commit to carpooling for a minimum of three consecutive months.  

  • All members of a carpool group must live off-campus, beyond a three kilometre radius from the University of Waterloo.  

  • No member can be registered in more than one carpool group at a time.  

  • Carpoolers must be faculty or staff of the University of Waterloo.  

  • The carpool group must choose a “carpool captain." 

  • Only the carpool captain can purchase a carpool permit from the University of Waterloo.    

Find out more by reading the Carpool Policy on our Regulations page.  Once you have confirmed you meet the criteria, please apply for a carpool permit by using our online carpool application.

Carpool matching and more with TravelWise

Looking for a carpool partner? TravelWise provides a variety of programs and services to encourage commuters to try sustainable commuting options, and then supports their effort to walk, cycle, carpool, or take transit more often. 

For information on carpool partner near you, join the TravelWise group for employees, or TravelWise group for students to match with other people from campus.  

With TravelWise, you can also:

  • Search your trip to Waterloo to calculate how long your commute would take by bus, how much your commute could cost by car, bike, or bus and more
  • Log your trips to win quarterly prizes
  • Keep tabs on your progress and impacts
  • Help UWaterloo better understand employee commuting. 

Through TravelWise and the Region of Waterloo, employee carpool members are also eligible for the Emergency Ride Home (ERH) program which offers reimbursement of up to $75 per trip for unexpected trips on days you carpool.