And many people aren't like you - they might make minimum wage and gas is a big expense for them.
Now I wouldn't do it for the reasons you mentioned but we must remember that we're a fortunate group.
Even though I was going ~20 miles in the carpool lane most of the time, the 10 minutes they saved would be wiped out by the 15-20 minutes they had to go out of their way to pick me up and drop me off. Everyone told me I was the only one going that far, most of the carpools they could only use the carpool lane for 3-4 miles which didn't save any time.
Other than that, I had two drivers who wanted to do their part to save the earth by carpooling which were fine. I also had two drivers who were nice but just really wanted the gas money. Those drivers both had really old cars that were dirty with trash and seemed poorly maintained. While they were ok drivers, I really did question if the tires were bald or what would happen if we were in an accident.
1+ hour trips sound like a perfect opportunity for this. I'm a kind of get-in-at-the-last-minute guy at work, but I'd probably also pick up a person or two per week on the drive home, when I don't mind a little delay.
People without spare money are of the wrong 'calibre'?
We weren't all born with latte money to spare. A CEO, brain surgeon or astronaut might have had a shitty car and been happy for an easy $5 when they were in grad school. Calibre my ass.