NHS Trust driving down carbon emissions with car sharing network

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On this year’s International Car Free Day a local NHS Trust is launching a new online facility to encourage its 2300 staff to car share as a more sustainable way to get around.

The South West Yorkshire Partnership NHS Foundation Trust is fully committed to being a socially responsible organisation, introducing measures that reduce or offset its environmental impact. This includes encouraging members of staff to car share when travelling to and from work and to meetings.

Each day there are 38 million empty car seats on UK roads and the Trust is aiming to do its bit to reduce this number by setting up the car sharing network to help co-ordinate journeys by staff.

The new online car sharing facility will enable staff to enter their regular journeys to or from work to find somebody else who takes the same journey.

The Trust provides services across a wide geographical area in Calderdale, Kirklees and Wakefield and where possible meetings are arranged in the most sustainable way, but where journeys are essential staff are being encouraged to travel together. As such, staff can also register a forthcoming meeting, event or training course and find colleagues to travel to and from the event with.

By simply finding someone who is going the same way at the same time staff will not only be reducing the Trust’s carbon footprint but could also save money on running costs or public transport, save time looking for parking spaces and help people who have limited public transport options.

The Trust’s director of finance and deputy chief executive Alex Farrell said, "The car sharing facility is a simple, cost-free initiative but it has the potential to reduce the Trust’s environmental impact significantly as well as having financial benefits for staff members who decide to car share. We are asking all staff to think before they make journeys and consider whether sharing would be possible."

The car sharing network is being launched to coincide with International Car Free Day. Every year on 22nd September people from around the world work together to remind everyone that we don’t have to accept our car-dominated society.

This special day is an excellent opportunity to rethink and rediscover our personal mobility and the urban environment we live in, at the same time as promoting more sustainable ways of transportation. For more information visit www.worldcarfree.net

NHS Trust driving down carbon emissions with car sharing network

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