Five reasons you should car share in 2015

It feels like just yesterday we were tucking into Christmas dinner and ringing in the New Year, but we just checked our calendars to find that we’re over halfway done with January already. Where did the time go?

While it’s possible that you’ve already failed your New Year’s resolutions already – let’s face it, they can be really hard to keep up, we thought we’d present our case for why you should try car sharing in 2015.

Put it this way, car sharing with Liftshare saves our regular members around £1,000 a year in travel costs, and that’s something we’d like to help each and every person in the UK achieve. because while pledging to lose weight, quit smoking and give up alcohol may sound like tricky goals, saving money doesn’t have to be.

So here for your consideration is our run-down of why you should try Liftshare in 2015:

You would save a lot of cash on petrol

This is the most obvious reason to start using Liftshare. The whole concept behind car sharing is that drivers with a car can post details of their journey – whether they’re going to their office, a gig, music festivals, footie games or any other venue, and offer other people a lift for a split of the petrol cost. It’s exactly the same as chucking your mate a fiver to cover their fuel costs after a trip, except you’re meeting new people on the road. More on that later.

But when you flip the concept around, those can’t afford a car or can’t afford to keep their vehicle running can request lifts from local drivers. It’s not a taxi service because Liftshare drivers are just regular people offering up their spare seats and time for the good of humankind. The whole concept is fuelled by goodwill and charitable aims. We’re a lovely bunch. You’d like to travel with us.

You can meet a lot of new people

We understand that the sharing economy is relatively new and the whole concept of sharing lifts with new people can be daunting for those who are perhaps shy. It’s a common thing, we honestly get it. But as a first step you could even propose a Liftshare scheme for your office – which is a bit like a carpool, but actually reducing the number of cars involved.

If you work in a big office, this could be a great way to commute in the mornings or after work with colleagues you haven’t even met yet, or those you’d like to chat with more often. it’s good for team-bonding, and it’ll help your work mates save more on travel that can be used for lunches or any number of things. Give it a shot: post an update on your message boards or ask around – you might be surprised at how many people are up for it.

We’re far cheaper than rail

We’ll keep this one short, because you may or may not have heard that the UK’s rail fares went up again in January – as they do every year, and it’s really creating a wider and wider price gap between taking the train and using Liftshare. We are now far cheaper than all the train ticket providers our there.

As an example: the cheapest single train ticket from Manchester to London King’s Cross at the time of writing is £83.60. The same trip via Liftshare will currently cost you around £20 – that’s a saving of £63.60. That’s definitely not chump change.

You are helping the environment

Car sharing definitely isn’t the same as car-pooling – but it’s OK, because we get that one all the time. Car sharing is still new, and the industry as a whole is trying to get the word out there and make the distinction. Car-pooling doesn’t necessarily get fewer cars going to the same office, but Liftsharing is all about getting more bodies in cars, and less out there clogging up the atmosphere.

The amount of carbon dioxide produced by cars is still a global problem, even though sales of hybrids and electric cars quadrupled in the UK through 2014. But by car sharing to a festival or place of business, you are helping get less people driving and more people enjoying cheaper travel, while making amazing social conenctions. It’s pretty much a win-win scenario.

ROAD TRIP!

Every year – when festival season kicks into high gear, we see a huge volume of people car sharing to the likes of Glastonbury, Download and other top fests up and down the country. Let’s face it: as keen festival-goers ourselves, Liftshare knows full well how fun it can be to share a car and hoof it to a big festival. Sure, you may be aching and painfully tired by the time you get there, but as a shared experience with friends it can often be memorable.

Many of our members have told us great stories about their festival car shares – some made friends that they have kept in touch with long after the festival ended, or they simply had a great time meeting new people over the weekend. If you want to save more money to actually spend on the festival – rather than spend it all getting there, then we recommend checking out lifts offered by our community.