Local authorities can claim £1.2 million worth of carpooling resources for free

Monday 16 September, 2024Social enterprise and commuter emissions reduction specialist, Mobilityways, has launched an engagement project to the value of £1.2 million to help local authorities promote carpooling in their regions.

Mobilityways has worked with local authority clients for over 25 years providing Liftshare communities and other climate tech services, and was a contributor to the DfT’s Lift sharing: local authority toolkit. This latest offering has been spearheaded due to an understanding of the financial pressure local authorities are under, as well as the power they have to make a huge impact on the uptake of carpooling. By doing so, local authorities can potentially influence a third of UK emissions. That high figure is because transport is the largest source of UK emissions, and single-occupancy-vehicle commuting accounts for 15 billion kg CO2 (82% of total commuting emissions).

To drive this impact, Mobilityways is offering free co-branded Liftshare pages and promotional resources to help local authorities engage their residents and improve vehicle occupancy through sharing car journeys.

Mobilityways local authorities sector director, Graeme Banister, gives some background to the project: “There are 47 million empty seats on our commute every day, and carpooling has the biggest latent potential for emissions reduction out of all travel behaviour changes.”

When analysing potential carpooling journeys for the commute, Mobilityways has found that 90% of people have 1 or more person they could share with, within walking distance of their house, and 80% of people have 10 or more carpooling matches. If all of those people did share, it’d save 35% of all commuting emissions – the biggest proportion out of any travel mode shift.

Graeme continues: “The numbers are astounding. With over 300 billion miles driven on UK roads each year, improving vehicle occupancy by just 10% would lead to the public saving £2billion in fuel costs alone. And we know local authorities have the willingness and ability to enable this change.

“As well as the cost savings, carpooling is important in building stronger communities by connecting people and supporting those who don’t have access to a car or public transport. Through our work with local authorities, we’re looking to increase the impact of carpooling in providing affordable access to transport.

“Local authorities are also key influencers of anchor institutions and businesses in their region, and together we can address commuting behaviour change to support businesses’ net zero goals and drive down congestion.”

Mobilityways is launching the service at a webinar on 19th
September.

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