A new website promoting car pooling hopes to make it easier for Aucklanders to catch a ride to work.

The website www.letscarpool.govt.nz is a free service to bring together drivers who commute in the same direction or those looking to share a ride to an event.

Dedicated car parks and 9.8 km of transit lanes on the North Shore will be some of the perks for drivers wanting to share.

Auckland Transport and the Greater Wellington Council pooled resources to fund the site.

With a promise of a reliable, user friendly, trustworthy service, 771 carpoolers have signed up in Auckland since January.

The website allows users to calculate how much petrol money carpooling will save.

Auckland Transport community transport manager Mathew Rednall said the site was about trying to let people know carpooling was a "viable option".

"As more people choose carpooling as their preferred transport option, we expect to see easier matches, increased usage and a subsequent decrease in both congestion and single-occupancy trips," he said.

As well as Aucklanders, people from Wellington, Nelson, Manawatu, Wanganui, Waikato and Taranaki will be able to use the site.

Those already joined to existing sites, Rideshare (Auckland) and Let's Carpool Wellington, will have their information transferred to the new website.  

- © Fairfax NZ News