If you are an ARDF member, you just need to log in to the site and will automatically be able to access car pooling services. If not, click on the Car Pool Register link to the right of the menu bar. You will be taken to a screen where you can choose a login name and enter some other details. Note that a valid email address will be required, because when you save your details, an email will be sent to the address that you supply with a 16 character alphanumeric password. This will allow you to log in to the site, and you can change it using the Update Login link that will appear in place of the Car Pool Register link when you log in. The email with your password SHOULD come through fairly rapdily, but allow up to an hour in case our web host's hourly emailing limits have for some reason been exceeded. Also, check your SPAM folder, particularly if you have a Gmail account. If all that fails, send me an email by clicking on the link at the top of the page (Contact webmaster), and I will tell you what your password is.

If you plan to register as a driver for events, then you first need to register some vehicles. To do this, click on the Update Login link. You will be taken to the same page as you used to register for car pooling. If you scroll down to the bottom of the page, you will see a vehicle table. For each vehicle that you may take to an event, you need to enter a description, whether your car has roof racks or not (roof racks might be useful for carrying skis if a trip to the snow is being organised, for example), and the default number of seats and bike racks that you have available. For example, if you usually go to events with a partner and have a five seater car, then you should enter three available seats, NOT five. You can, of course, change the number of available seats every time you register for a new event. You can also add a commment. For example, I often take my dog to events, so would indicate that any potential passengers would be sharing the back seat with a dog.

Also, just above the car table, you will notice three checkboxes asking you if you want to display your address, phone numbers or email address to prospective passengers when you register as a driver. This is not mandatory; all communication between drivers and lift requesters can be done through this site. Note that the suburb that you live in will always be displayed, so that passengers can decide if it's worthwhile contacting you. If you do want any of these details visible to logged in lift requesters, select the relevant checkboxes and then save your details. Note also that the email address of any person that requests a lift will be sent to the driver.

You may register as a driver or request a lift by using opening the Car Pool Event Register from the Services menu. At the top of this page is a table with a list of coming events that you can register for. If the event you are interested in is not available, there are two ways you can add it.

If you are an ARDF member, first check if the event you are interested in is already in our calendar. If it, click on the event in the calendar, click Edit and make sure the the Show in Car Pool Register checkbox is checked. When you save the event, it will appear in the Car Pool Event table.

If you are not an ARDF member, or you feel that the car pooling event is not one that should appear in our calendar, then you can add it from the Car Pool Event Register page. You will notice a Clear button below the event details to the right of the table. If you click on it, you will be able to enter an event date, select an event type from the dropdown, enter an event name and description, and enter a Melways reference. When you save the event, it will be added to the event table. Make sure the event date is later than the current date, though, or it will not be displayed.

Note that if an event is added to the car pooling table which is not in our calendar and a car pooling member clicks on it, an Add to Calendar button will appear. If the event is relevant to ARDF, any ARDF member can click this button and the event will appear in our calendar.

To register as a driver, choose an event from the Car Pool Event Register event table. Below the event table, you will see a dropdown with a list of vehicles you have registered. If you select one of these, the default details you entered in the Update Login page will be automatically copied to the textboxes below the dropdown. Update the details as required, and then click Register. Note that once you have registered as a driver for a given event, the Car Pool Event Register will not let you request a lift any more, but any lift requests you have made before then will not be cancelled, so make sure you send a message to any drivers you requested a lift from.

If you change your mind, click on an event where you are registered as a driver. Below the event table, you will see a Deregister button. Click this and you will be deregistered; any people who have requested lifts will be sent an email saying their lifts have been cancelled.

Click on the event that you are listed in and scroll to the bottom of the page. If you are not registered as a driver, you will see a table with a list of available drivers. The number of available seats and bike racks and the suburb that the driver lives in are shown in the table. If you click on a driver, other contact details may also be displayed, if they chose to make them available. If you want to request a lift from that driver, enter the number of seats and bike racks you want, and whether you need roof racks. Then enter a message for the driver and click the Request Lift button. An email will be sent to the driver informing them of your lift request - your email address will be shown in this email.

If you change your mind, you can click on a driver from whom you have requested a lift, enter a message for them, and then click Cancel Request. Again, an email will be sent to the driver with your message. You cannot cancel a lift request which has been rejected by the driver.

To see a summary of all the events you have registered as a driver for, go to the Car Pool Request Maintenance page from the Services menu. At the top of the page, you will see a table with a list of all the requests for events you have registered for.

If you click on a request, the details of the requests are shown to the right of the table, and a table with a list of all emails that have been sent between you and the requester via this site is shown below the request table.

If the lift request is cancelled, then you can take no further action.

If a lift request is active or accepted by you, however, you may enter a message for the passenger and click Email Requester to send them an email. If a lift request is active or you have rejected it, but decide to accept it after all, then you may enter the number of seats and bikes you have available for that person (what they requested is the default), write them a message, and then click the Accept button. An email will be sent to the requester with your message, and the number of available seats and bike racks you have will be decremented by the number of seats and racks the passenger requested. Note that when someone requests a lift, you will receive a request email with a link to this page; you may click it and come straight here without having to log in. If you come to an understanding with the passenger outside of this website, then it is still a good idea to use this page to accept lifts, though, to make sure that the number of seats and racks you have available is always current.

If you choose not to accept an active or already accepted lift, you can enter a message for the driver and click Reject Request. An email will be sent to the passenger informing them of your decision.

Above the event table, you will notice a dropdown which summarises all the events you have registered as a driver for. If you select one of those events (not the -->Select option, which displays all events), then you will notice a Deregister button appear to the right of the dropdown. If you click this, you will be deregistered as a driver for that event, and any people that have requested lifts will have an email sent informing them their requests have been cancelled.

To see a summary of all the events you have requested a lift for, go to the Car Pool Request Maintenance page from the Services menu and scroll down to the bottom.

If you click on a request and it is not cancelled or rejected, you will be able to send an email to the driver, and you will be able to cancel the request.

Also, clicking on an event will display a list of all emails sent by this site between you and the driver.