One million reasons to consider car sharing in the North West

Transport Minister, Conor Murphy highlighted the massive savings of over £1million to commuters in the north west by registering as a car share user.

The Minister welcomed statistics from Travelwise Car Share which showed, in 2009, that registered users pooled over £1,021,000 in savings as a result of car sharing journeys made by members throughout the year. Research also showed that those matched journeys registered on the site will have saved approximately 4,725,120 miles which would otherwise have been clocked up by drivers, and in the process removed 1,554.6 tonnes of associated carbon dioxide emissions.

Last November, Travelwise and the Department of Transport in the south launched the CarshareNW website - a cross border initiative which has achieved great success in facilitating local and cross border car-sharing for commuters. The site complements the work of its partner site http://www.carshareni.com which covers the north.

The Minister said: "In the current economic climate and with increased fuel prices, there has never been a better time for car travellers to experience the benefits of sharing their journeys. With a growing membership of over 115 registered users, the free-to-use CarshareNW website matches commuters and other travellers who make similar daily journeys as well as one off journeys.

"While delivering significant individual cost savings to users the site is also making a contribution to reducing overall congestion and addressing pollution associated with car travel. To more and more people it is clear that car sharing makes sense and the potential savings are hard to ignore, averaging about £1,000 per year for two people sharing.

"I would encourage everyone who currently drives regular journeys to check out the online calculator on the carsharenw.com website to find out how much they could save."

Minister Noel Dempsey, from the Department of Transport in the south said: "Car sharing can help combat congestion and reduce CO2 emissions. Joining a car pool has benefits for the environment - and could save you money.

"The benefits of car sharing include: Improved air quality and fewer carbon emissions due to reduced traffic, reduced travel costs for each person, less congestion and shorter journeys due to fewer cars being on the road and an increased chance of finding a parking space, because fewer cars means less competition for spaces."

Travelwise Car Share coordinator, Michael Lindsay, said: "Commuters in the north west should be impressed by the statistics for our carshare websites – they prove the value of car sharing both to individuals and society as a whole. While we expect that there are many more people making their own arrangements to car share, the websites allow us to track the positive impacts of those registered to use the service."

Notes to editors:

1. Travelwise is an agency within the Department for Regional Development and is dedicated to promoting the use of sustainable modes of transport such as car sharing, walking, cycling and public transport to audiences including employers, commuters and schools throughout the north. Details at the Travelwise website.

2. Below are the calculated savings based on Carshareni.com 2009 registered users and matched journeys :

• Distance: 4,725120 miles
• Money: £1,021925.00
• Carbon Dioxide: 1554.6 tonnes
• Nitrogen Oxide: 2.2 tonnes
• Particulate matter: 147.9 kilograms
• Carbon monoxide: 1.8 tonnes
• Hydrocarbons: 110.3 kilograms