Why Should You Car Share?

Unless you live very close to your workplace, it is likely that you may drive a car to and from work every day. Some people may choose to instead bicycle or use public transport, but for many of us we will spend large amounts of time sat behind the wheel in traffic during the mornings and evenings.

The problem with this however is that this often means that there ends up being a lot of cars on the road which contribute to pollution levels. It also means that there is more chance for higher numbers of traffic jams or accidents with a large amount of cars on the road.

How exactly do you cut down on using your car though if you do not live close? While cars can often be expensive to maintain and run, it can often be just as expensive to use public transport and this can perhaps result in longer travel times. For many, public transport isn’t even an option as they live so far away.

Car sharing can be the ideal solution to these problems. By getting multiple people who work in the same place to share one car, it can help to reduce the amount of congestion on roads as well as cut down on CO2 emissions, making it more environmentally than driving everyone driving a car each.

What Are The Benefits Of Car Sharing?

According to the government‘s website which encourages car sharing, some of the benefits to sharing a car with others can be as trivial as simply being more likely to find a parking space or having your journey be more pleasant with company.

As well as this, there can be a chance to have better air quality as the amount of cars on the road will be reduced, in turn reducing the amount of traffic fumes. According to the Scottish government‘s article on car sharing, it was estimated that if just half of all UK motorists received just one lift a week, then both congestion and pollution would be cut 10%.

It can also be beneficial to reduce the amount of money that you spend on fuel or parking fees. For example, if you car share with three other people and everyone contributes to the fuel, then that means you are paying three quarters less than you normally would!

How Can You Set Up Car Sharing?

There are a number ways to set up easy car sharing, from professional to more informal methods. Your company may already run a scheme that offers this, so the first thing to do would be check if this is something that is available at your place of work.

Alternatively, there are professionally organised schemes that can be found by simply searching on the internet. If this does not appeal to you, or your workplace does not offer this, then consider setting up an informal car share scheme.

Ask around your colleagues at your office to see who would be receptive to the idea. If enough people are on board, then try to organise a car share based on people’s locations. It’s more sustainable for people who live near each other to share a car than people who live far apart.

It’s always important to remember that you should always be safe while car sharing, so do not share a car with anyone that you feel uncomfortable with or don’t know.