Are you taking part in the first nationwide Liftshare Week in Hedge End?

Want to cut down on fuel and parking bills, help cut congestion, reduce the stress of driving on the daily commute and do your bit for the ozone layer in Hedge End? Next week. Monday 4 – Friday 8 October, is the first nationwide Liftshare Week and people across the country are being encouraged to car-share on their way to work.

Backed by liftshare, the national journey matching database, Hampshire County Council is joining with Portsmouth and Southampton city councils to promote the week.

“Everyone in Hampshire is being asked to look at how often they travel alone by car," said Councillor Mel Kendal, Hampshire County Council’s Executive Member for Environment.  He continued, “There is a high probability that there is someone going the same way - especially on the daily commute - and if you take a passenger or two, you could recoup some of your fuel costs with contributions from them.  All those participating will also be playing their part in easing congestion and reducing pollution.”

Here in Hampshire the county council has created Hantscarshare in partnership with liftshare, an online database where you can register for free and offer to give someone a lift or find a free seat in a car.

You don’t need to own a car to participate in the scheme as many drivers are happy to provide a lift in return for a contribution to fuel costs.

The Hampshire scheme now has 392,520 members and the organisers reckon that on average each saves £773.64 a year.

In addition to the Hantscarshare public scheme over 20 major employers across the county including the main local authorities, universities and NHS Trusts have their own private groups which staff can sign up to via Hantscarshare.com.

Thousands of people are expected to take part in Liftshare Week – are you intending to give car-sharing a try next week in Hedge End?

Do you use the M27 to get to work, the M3, drive into Southampton, or to Portsmouth, Basingstoke – or any of the towns and villages in the surrounding area?

Will you be saving money and reducing your carbon footprint next week as well as making your journey more pleasant? Hampshire County Council is also promoting the social aspects of sharing the drive to work.

Or do you already car-share?

Whatever your views or experiences, please share them with Hedgeendpeople!

Liftshare was set up in 1998 to encourage and enable people to share car journeys when founder student Ali Clabburn realised there were 38 million empty seats in cars travelling the UK’s roads every day.