Car share case study
Jo has been car sharing for around five years and she’s never looked back.
Jo says: “If you’ve got the chance to car share, then I highly recommend you give it a go. I started to save costs and reduce my impact on the environment, but I never realised the other benefits it would bring.
“Our commute is about an hour each way along an increasingly busy A38. We take it in turns to drive and sharing makes a huge difference to how tired you are by the end of the week. You have to leave work on time at the end of the day, which is great for your wellbeing. It’s not as restrictive as it might sound:
- if you think you’ll need to stay longer then you can opt not to share that day
- with IT systems in place to log in at home, you can finish anything urgent when you get back
- the car share scheme has a system in place so that if one of you has to go home (or stay at work) in an emergency, the University will pay for your travel (subject to a manager confirming this is the case)
“If you’re looking for a car sharer and can’t find someone near where you live, I suggest you widen your search to find people who are somewhere on your commuter route. I live in a very small village and am the only person who works at the University. I currently share with two other colleagues who live in a village a few miles from me, so we all meet there and take it in turns to drive.
“Inevitably you develop close friendships as you discuss politics, latest summer holiday plans, sing Christmas songs together, or bemoan the weather for a couple of hours each day. While we’ve never bunked off to go to the zoo and ended up with a stray monkey in the back of our car, there are many times when it feels like we’re in an episode of Peter Kay’s Car Share and we’ve laughed most of the way across Devon. But don’t take my word for it – give it a whirl yourself.”
