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A study carried out on behalf of the BBC has revealed that Britain has higher transport costs than anywhere else in Europe with people spending on average 15% of their disposable income on transport. It is thought that this is due to increased fuel duty and rising public transport fares over recent years.
The research also revealed that people are spending on average 20 minutes longer in getting to work than they did 10 years ago. While the government believe this is largely due to people living further away from their places of work it seems fair to conclude that rising road congestion also has its part to play.
Liftshare hope that this new research will make people consider more seriously sustainable alternatives such as car sharing. Liftshare member, Daniel from Wiltshire, who shares twice a week with one other person explained:
“I don’t have a car, and wanted to find a cheaper alternative to the train”; he goes on to describe the arrangement as “convenient, cheap and the person I share with is good company.”
With almost 150,000 registered car shares around the UK, Liftshare, operators of the UK’s largest car share network, now estimate that more than 10,000 tonnes of CO2 are being saved each year by people sharing their empty car seats and travelling together.
The calculation, which takes into account the distance and frequency of the journeys registered on the car share network show that there has been a dramatic increase in the popularity of car sharing over the past few months. Suspected reasons for this change in attitude are thought to be as a result of increased awareness of climate change and rising fuel prices which have been dominating the media recently.
Ali Clabburn, founder of Liftshare said: “10,000 tonnes is a real milestone and this only takes into account the number of people who have formally matched up through Liftshare. There must be thousands more out there who are sharing informally. Car sharing is booming in the UK at the moment and we’re very confident that it’s only going to grow and grow.”
Anyone interested in finding out more about car sharing can register for free on-line at www.liftshare.com
