Money tip: Help for diving into the carpool

For parents who ferry their children around town, organizing a carpool can be a challenge. But a solution may be within sight.

Divide The Ride (www.dividetheride.com) is a carpooling Web site designed to help by drawing up shared calendars based on parents’ availability and their kids’ schedules. It works much like a personal planner by letting each user choose who makes up his or her carpool, linking families who know and trust each other, and creating a schedule of assignments.

As soon as all the information is collected, the schedule is e-mailed to everyone in the group along with text messages and e-mail reminders.

The site takes only a few moments to produce a schedule once every group member has entered his or her driving availability. Members can track the number of miles they have saved, how many rides their group has shared, and how many gallons of gasoline they have spared in a year.

Using the technology is free, and all shared information – such as names, pick-up points and destinations – is limited to group members.