Lifts to work with a colleague - what to pay?

[roisin]

My journey to work is 5 miles, a colleague lives 5 mins walk away from me and I don't drive. I walk to her house and she gives me a lift there and back most days when we are both in. (On average 8 journeys per week).

It works well, we're both happy and it's good discipline for both of us to make sure we leave on time! She says she is very happy with what I give her towards her petrol and car costs.

So I am just checking/benchmarking what you think I should reasonably be paying for this wonderful chauffeured taxi service.

She would get 45p a mile if it were a work journey. So half that?

If you can give her £5 a week, that's a meaningful amount, is a 50/50 split for the journeys and I'm sure is a help towards petrol for her.

If it were me, even if I only did 6 journeys on a particular week (i.e. 3 days) I'd still give her a fiver, because it shows your appreciation for her kindness. Let's face it, if there was a bus service, its bound to cost more than that. But it's down to you and what you can afford.

There are online calculators for carsharing you can use to give you a ballpark

Thanks. Really helpful. I am paying more, or considerably more than all your suggestions, so I can rest easy on that.

The other way is to look at what it might cost you to get there if you really had to use public transport and pay the same because it is more convenient this way anyway.