Northwood liftsharing success with sustainable travel plan

Lynne Potter,  Sustainabillity Advisor for Carillion at Northwood Headquarters shares the success of the military base’s car sharing scheme.

Northwood HQ in Middlesex has five operational centres with more than 2,000 military and civilian personnel. Support services are provided through a Private Finance Initiative (PFI) by Carillion Plc.

Did you know?

• Traffic jams cost the UK economy £5 billion every year in lost productivity.
• There are 38 million empty car seats on the UK’s roads every rush hour!
• 29% of children travel to school by car.
• 90% of London air pollution is caused by road traffic.

To help tackle these problems and as part of Northwood Headquarters Sustainable Travel Plan, the HQ set up a Liftshare Scheme to encourage staff to car-share their journeys to reduce carbon emissions from travel.

The Northwood HQ Liftshare scheme is accessible through the site web pages as a free-to-use online system. The main advantage is that the system is simple and it’s easy to register with just a few details. Then people can quickly offer and take up lifts to and from work.

We often have spaces in our cars that are unoccupied but we just don’t know of anyone that needs a lift or is willing to share.

The Northwood Liftshare system brings these people together as part of a sustainability strategy, as well as a host of other benefits. Since its inception some of the benefits have included:

• Reducing cost of fuel for participants – the more people who share, the cheaper the cost of fuel is for those participating. It can also be a cheaper alternative to public transport, and more convenient. The Liftshare website suggests contributions by passengers based on the distance travelled and how many people sharing.
• Sharing driving hours – rather than giving a contribution towards the liftshare, people can also take it in turns to share the driving which can help reduce the stress of commuting.
• Meeting new people – liftsharing can mean spending time with people that you would not necessarily otherwise meet. It can make journeys to and from work more sociable, provide a networking opportunity, and can create new friendships.
• Reducing CO2 emissions – Less vehicles on the road due to car sharing means that less fuel is used, and so less CO2 emissions are released into the atmosphere.
• Cutting congestion – sharing a car will reduce the number of vehicles on the road, reducing congestion during the busiest times of the day. And if possible, it’s great to share with more than one person.
• Reducing parking space issues – as with many workplaces, parking space is limited, and by car sharing, the strain on space is reduced.

There is further information on the benefits of liftsharing at https://liftshare.com/uk/savings-calculator This can estimate your weekly and annual savings, with suggested contributions from passengers and CO2 emissions saved.