Drivers and passengers across Harrogate district are being encouraged to share their journeys for Liftshare Week 2017 (Monday 2 – Sunday 8 October).
Harrogate Borough Council is marking Liftshare Week by raising awareness across the district of its free to use Harrogate Car Share scheme, which reduces environmental impact and congestion, and saves commuter cash on their fuel costs.
Drivers – and potential passengers – can sign up to harrogatecarshare.com, which is funded by Harrogate Borough Council, so that people with empty car seats can connect with those who need a lift. The scheme currently has around 1,500 members in the Harrogate District who have registered their journeys and are looking for, or offering a lift.
Liftshare Week aims to highlight the social, environmental and financial benefits of car sharing, as well as debunking some of the common myths that stop people doing it.
The future of sustainable transport is a prominent issue with the public at the moment, with concerns about rising transport costs, emission free zones in major cities and rapid technological developments suggesting that the days of vehicles with just one person in may be numbered.
Gareth Bentley and Nicola Shepherd work for Harrogate Borough Council and live in different parts of the district but on the same route to work. Having registered on Harrogate Car Share, they now regularly share their journey to work.
Gareth said:
Signing up was quick and easy. It made a lot of sense for us to share after we realised we both do a similar journey every day.
Nicola added:
We’re pleased that we can now share the cost of commuting, and we feel like we’re doing our bit to cut congestion in the area as well.
Councillor Phil Ireland is Harrogate Borough Council’s cabinet member for sustainable transport. He said:
With 38,000,000 empty car seats on UK roads every rush hour, it’s clear that there’s an opportunity to use all that spare travel capacity better than we’re currently doing.
Harrogate Car Share is free, and you have control over where and when you use it, so it’s a really flexible scheme.
Hopefully this campaign will bring together a host of people who wouldn’t otherwise know there was somebody out there they could share with.
Liftshare Week runs from 2- 8 October 2017. To join and use the Harrogate Car Share scheme, go to www.harrogatecarshare.com. As an extra incentive, until 15 October, any member of the scheme who sends a journey share request will be entered into a national prize draw to win £250, run by the scheme provider Liftshare.
