The Barcelona Science Park and the mobile application Hoop Carpool have teamed up to offer users of the Park community who travel to our facilities by car a collaborative, responsible and economical solution for their journeys: carpooling.

The initiative aims to turn carpooling into a new habit, complementing other existing public transport options. Pollution, fuel costs and parking shortages are major reasons for not travelling alone by car. This project is designed to ensure that the cars that travel to the Park are filled with more people.

The new carpooling model through the Hoop Carpool app will be launched on 3 October, when all users of the Park community who wish to use it and have downloaded the app will be able to start using it with a specific code for the Park community to organise joint journeys and share the costs.

Every user in the PCB Community is expected to save around €2,500 with the application in use and to be able to cope with rising fuel costs, reduce energy use, take less time to get to work and save almost 480 hours per year, as well as saving more than 1,400 kg of CO₂ emissions. All this taking into account that the average number of passengers/car is 1.20 and that the project would affect 50% of car journeys.

Maria Terrades, director of the Science Park, says, “carpooling is in line with a long-standing commitment by the Park to align itself with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Through carpooling we work to achieve more sustainable cities and communities, we take action for the climate because we eliminate empty cars from the equation and we contribute to improving the air in the city, which translates into better health and wellbeing”.

Paloma Martín Benito, co-founder and CEO of Hoop Carpool, said, “Carpooling solves a serious problem for companies, people and cities, arising from the excessive number of vehicles on the road due to the fact that the occupancy rate of cars for work purposes is 1.1 people per car. The time has finally come for people to find someone to share cars, costs, time and emissions with, thus travelling more responsibly and efficiently. Thousands of people will be moving in the right direction thanks to the Barcelona Science Park, as well as having a direct impact on the reduction of life-sapping traffic, which would be mitigated in most urban centres by doubling the occupancy rate to 2.2 people per car.”

Carpooling is an initiative by the Barcelona Science Park with Hoop Carpool and the collaboration of Biocat, the Bosch i Gimpera Foundation, the National Centre for Genomic Analysis CNAG-CRG, the Institute for Bioengineering of Catalonia IBEC, IRB Barcelona and Qiagen, but it is open to other entities that want to join.

How can you start carpooling from 3 October?

1. Download the Hoop Carpool mobile app: https://apphoop.page.link/pcbdigital
2. Register ✍ and enter the code #Comunitat PCB to enjoy amazing promotions. PCB Community users will be able to share expenses without commission and drivers can earn up to €20 in petrol vouchers.
3. Start carpooling to improve your quality of life, your community and the planet.

Hoop Carpool on-site visit to the Barcelona Science Park

On 3rd November, a Hoop Carpool visit is scheduled to take place to raise awareness of the service and promote carpooling.