Re-launching a car-pooling scheme

Summary

Targeted at businesses in the Norwich area, the aim was to develop a voluntary car-pooling scheme as a way of tackling road congestion and emissions.

Implementing sustainable mobility

In the early 1960s, car ownership grew dramatically and the road network expanded. The need to travel to out-of-town facilities such as supermarkets and leisure centres also increased. By the late 1980s, car ownership had grown so that just over a third of the adult population owned a car, leading to a rise in single occupancy car journeys.

This measure was designed to tackle the resulting congestion in the overburdened transport network by relaunching and rebranding an existing car-pooling web tool to make it easier for people interested in the system to match journeys.

Progress

A travel plan officer identified companies and organisations with existing workplace travel plans that could make use of a car-pooling scheme. The officer then assisted in establishing, maintaining and monitoring the scheme and making recommendations for improvement.

All 20 target workplaces set up a car-pooling scheme and information was disseminated to a further 20 businesses outside the city centre.

Outcomes

Membership of the car-pooling scheme rose to 2,400 across public and private companies and organisations. The measure reduced local congestion by lowering the number of commuters travelling in single-occupancy cars. Since 76 percent of commuting car poolers previously travelled in single-occupancy cars it can be claimed that this measure removed approximately 1,646 single-occupancy cars from the network at peak time. The measure saved 304 tonnes of CO2 making a contribution to improving air quality. The measure resulted in a reduction of 993,690 commuter miles travelled and reduced costs for both commuters and companies.