With commute times steadily increasing and gasoline at chronically high prices, Sara Reams resolved to help out Fayette residents beleaguered by their long, lonely, costly trips to work.

She has arranged for the church she attends, Fayette Presbyterian, to make available around 80 of its parking spaces to drivers who are part of carpools.

Reams, an avid gardener, was motivated by the poor air quality in metro Atlanta, which, on the day she was interviewed, was in breach of federal standards governing ozone for the seventh time this year.

She also said the costs of gasoline had become burdensome for many families. Forty-one percent of respondents said these costs had been “a very serious problem” in a nationwide poll Quinnipiac University conducted last month.

For Dr. Garrett Hoffmann, Fayette Presbyterian’s senior pastor, facilitating carpools is both a matter of practicality and a Biblical injunction. He sees it as a small way to care about neighbors and offer a service to his congregation. More importantly, though, Christians are “charged as God’s people to care for the earth,” he said.

Reams believes the church’s location along Ga. Highway 92, where last year a daily average of 14,330 cars passed through its intersection with New Hope Road, will make the idea of carpooling easier and more convenient.

She hopes other churches will soon join Fayette Presbyterian to compensate for the lack of alternatives to driving alone.

Fayette County has consistently declined participation in the XPress bus service, operated by the Georgia Regional Transit Authority (GRTA), although it now serves 12 other metro Atlanta counties.

Those who wish to join a carpool may register online at 187ridefind.com or call 1-87-RIDEFIND. The service, coordinated by the Atlanta Regional Commission, matches commuters in carpools and van-pools based on a questionnaire about the location of one’s workplace, hours of business, and flexibility.

Parking at Fayette Presbyterian Church is at each driver’s liability. The address is 791 Forest Avenue in Fayetteville.