De Montfort University

Make your journey to DeMontfort University more enjoyable (and save money too).

For those of us who are poorly serviced by public transport one method of helping to reduce driving costs and help the planet is to consider car sharing. This is a method of travel whereby two or more people get together and share one car rather than all driving individually.

Benefits for the greater good are obvious: reduced CO2 emissions, less congestion on the roads and less stressed drivers; but the individual also benefits. You can save money on fuel, enjoy a more sociable journey and reduce parking costs. And with the costs of driving seemingly always on the increase (think of insurance, fuel, congestion charging etc) those have got to be good things.

Unless you know that you live near one of your work colleagues then finding a partner may seem like a bit of a chore but in reality it couldn’t be easier. DMU staff and students have the chance to add their names to a car sharing database that does all the work for you.

By registering with www.leicestershare.com and adding your journey details to the De Montfort University private group you can be matched with another University member wishing to do the same journey. Then it’s just a case of making contact (taking sensible security precautions) and deciding whether or not to travel together.

There are additional benefits for DMU car sharers. For example if you regularly car share with 3 or more people in the car then parking can be free. We also guarantee you a free taxi journey home if you are left at work (see the Transport pages on the University website for details and FAQs).

One University member who benefited from the scheme is Kirsty Sawicka. She decided to enter her details after receiving an email explaining how it worked and found it easy to use and successful.

“I found it easy to put my details in and search for possible car sharing partners. Over the 6 months or so I was registered on the site I was contacted by 3 people interested in car sharing.”

One of those contacts proved to be suitable and resulted in a relationship beyond the commute.

“I was contacted by Fiona who I car shared with after she saw my information on the liftshare website.” She told me.

“We got on well from the start and soon got to know each other. We became running partners as well as driving partners and regularly went running together in Leicester or Nottingham.”

Kirsty calculates that the car share saved her up to £80 per month because of the shared costs and although she no longer works at the University she says that she would consider car sharing again and would recommend it for other commuters.

“I think it is definitely worth considering. I enjoyed the company and on a longer journey there are also significant cost savings.

“I found the scheme easy to use and with the numbers of people now registered on the website, liftshare is a good way of finding a partner. I think the scheme just needs to be more widely publicised to make it even easier to find an interested partner doing the same journey.”

The more people who register with the scheme the better chance there is of finding a match. To see who has already registered near to where you live why not take a look at the maps in The Campus Centre Building (opposite the Spar entrance) and on the new Main Car Park notice board at the back of the Kimberlin Library next to the bookshop.

Join now and make those friends (and savings) straight away.

For further information contact Ian Murdey, the Transport Co-ordinator at imurdey@dmu.ac.uk.

Leicestershire High School

Teachers show that flexible travel plans work

Most of us don’t think about how we’re going to travel to work. We just jump in the car as we do every day, sit in traffic jams cursing everyone else on the road, and arrive at work just in time to fight for the last parking space. But it really doesn’t have to be like this.

Two teachers at a Leicestershire High School have shown just how being flexible about travel can improve the daily commute for individuals. Flexible plans mean that you don’t have to make the same travel choices everyday; you can change them to suit your needs. This is good news for people who would like to do their bit for the environment but who feel that giving up the car is too big a jump to make: Because you don’t have to.

As the saying goes, ‘Every Little Helps’. So you don’t have to make an all-or-nothing decision. You don’t have to get rid of your car for every journey you make; you just have to make sure that you make the right choice of transport for the next journey you’re going to make.

For Jill and Angela this means that the daily commute takes a different form according to the demands of the day. For example, Angela lives 10 miles away from work. Her journey takes her past the end of Jill’s road. On most days they start at the same time and finish at the same time so they car share. It’s a small sacrifice for Angela to make as she pulls in to Jill’s drive but it’s one less car on the road and one less parking space required at school.

And there are other benefits to them both beyond thoughts for the environment. As Jill puts it, ‘On days when we share we have a sociable journey to and from work. This helps us to prepare for the day or unwind afterwards. And it saves money too because we can share the costs’.

Sometimes it’s not possible to share because one or other of them wants to start earlier or leave later. On those days Jill is able to use her own car, get the bus or even cycle to work. The beauty of this arrangement is that the flexibility allows choices to be made that can benefit the environment without making heavy demands on either of the friends to give up the freedom that their cars provide.

Many employers now cater for workers who want to tailor their travel to the needs of each day. For example, De Montfort University offers staff Pay and Display permits as a substitute for full time permits so that they can park on the occasions they need to. They also have shower and changing facilities for cyclists, runners and walkers, and they offer free travel to their staff and students on the Hospital Hopper bus service. All this adds up to a package of travel options that people can tailor to their changing needs.

Transport Co-ordinator Ian Murdey explains how this works for him, ‘Most of the time I run into work but I also have a key for the staff cycle shed for those days when I’m feeling less energetic. When the weather is really bad I can catch a bus at the end of my road and be dropped off within 2 minutes of my office. Being flexible about travel takes a lot of the stress out of the commute.’

The message to people tired of being stuck in traffic queues is clear: Don’t be a slave to your car. Make your travel choices work for you and you can reap your own benefits as well as feel good about doing something for the environment.

Leicestershire County Council

Bindu Dullabh is an Energy Assistant working for Leicestershire County Council and is based at County Hall. She car shares every day with two other County Hall employees, Meena Lakhani and Nayna Thanki. They all live close together in the Rushey Mead area of Leicester. Bindu and Nayna are old friends and used to work together at GE Lighting. They both left at different times and after a chance meeting sometime later, realised that they both worked at County Hall. Nayna was already car sharing with Meena and Bhindu joined them, so now all three of them car share everyday.

They are all members of the County Hall car sharing scheme and Meena was one of the first employees to join. As part of this scheme they are entitled to park in a designated area close to the main staff entrance at County Hall. Also as members of the scheme they are entered into a draw every time they car share. In September 2006 Bindu won the draw – her prize being £30 in vouchers, and she insisted in sharing her prize with her fellow car sharers.

All arrangements such as petrol money and leaving times are negotiated between all three of them and they keep each other informed if they need to leave earlier or later than usual or are having the day off. Bindu says that it is important to be honest with each other and to speak up if there are any issues. For example, if one of them wants to leave early, but it is inconvenient for the other two, then it is important that they say so. All in all, it works well for them, and even on occasion had to wake up one of their number who has overslept. Nayna says “we can have little chat while we are coming from and going home so you keep up with daily knowledge of what is happening in and around the world.”

They all find car sharing an enjoyable and convenient way to get to work and would highly recommend it to others. It saves time and money and establishes friendships. On top of all this it helps the environment too.