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Join Forces And Cars To Save The Environment
June 2008
As part of National Liftshare Day (Monday 9th June), Care4Air, the region’s air quality awareness campaign, is highlighting the Car Share South Yorkshire website to encourage more people to care for the air we breathe!
If people in South Yorkshire want to car share but don’t know where to start, the Car Share South Yorkshire website, www.carsharesouthyorkshire.com, can help them find a partner who may share a similar journey, and set them off on they’re new eco-friendly journey.
The website, which is part of the national Liftshare database and supported by all four South Yorkshire Local Authorities and the South Yorkshire Passenger Transport Executive, is free to use and works by taking a registered user’s details and matching them geographically with other people offering or seeking a lift on their route.
Car sharing is a great way to improve air quality as it reduces the amount of cars on the road, meaning fewer harmful gases are being released into the air from car exhausts.
Rob Wardley from Sheffield has found friendship from Car Share South Yorkshire after he signed up to the website two years ago and never looked back. Rob commented: “I travel around 100 miles to work and a major benefit for me of sharing my car journey is the company. The website helped me to pair up with someone who is now one of my good friends!”
Jeremy Andrews from Barnsley, decided to use the Car Share website after deciding to travel to Middlesbrough to find long-lost relatives. He said: “I am a registered user on the website and about a year ago I decided to see if anyone was able to share my journey to Middlesbrough. The website paired me up with a local couple who arranged to pick me up from Barnsley as they travel to Middlesbrough every week. Through car sharing, I was able to get to my destination quicker than using the train or bus and with the company of two really nice people, I also saved money!”
Julie Griffiths from Eckington, Sheffield, is one of the many users registered on Car Share South Yorkshire, and she shares her car to and from her workplace at South Yorkshire Police. She said: “I car share with my daughter and her husband and we have been sharing my car for a year now. The benefits are endless, firstly we’ve taken one car off the road, which helps the environment, but there are also economic benefits as we share the cost of running the car.”
Care4Air, which is run by the four Local Authorities in South Yorkshire and funded by the South Yorkshire Local Transport Plan, encourages everyone to use more sustainable methods of transport such as car sharing, walking, cycling and taking the bus, to help improve air quality in the region. For more information about the campaign, please visit www.care4air.org
Councillor Shaffaq Mohammed, Cabinet Member for Climate Change and the Local Environment, said: "Car sharing is a great way to improve our local air quality and reduce carbon emissions whilst saving you money in the process. It's so important that we contribute towards the battle against climate change and protect our local environment, therefore making it easier to use other methods of transport is essential."