The car share scheme is a database of car users from your area, or on the route into University who are willing to give lifts. The database will also include information as to their arrival time in the University, and the time that they leave each day, making it easy for people studying different subjects to get together. Individual preferences of people that you would like to share with are taken into account, in order to ensure that you are happy that your name and telephone number is only released to those individuals that you would be content to share with. Once all the information has been entered into the database we will return to you a list of those individuals in your preferred groups who live on your route into University, with their telephone numbers, and arrive/depart times to enable you to get in touch with them. A laminated card with Car Share will be issued for you to display in your car, which will include the general area that you come from i.e. Hillfoots, Stirling etc. Spaces will be marked in the car parks for use by car sharers, giving you preferential access to parking spaces (similar to that accorded to disabled spaces). This is the first time that we have attempted such a scheme, and we will be monitoring it to guage its level of success.
WHY DO WE NEED A CAR SHARING SCHEME?
Reducing the number of cars coming into the University with just one passenger is a matter of priority for a number of reasons:
a) It reduces the amount of air pollution and its detrimental effects on the health of humans, habitats, and other species, as well as reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
b) According to a survey of modes of transport at the University in 1994, 77.3% of all car drivers came alone in their car. We hope to reduce this percentage substantially.
c) More people in one car increases the efficiency of fuel use by vehicles in terms of people miles per litre. As petrol is a non-renewable resource, if one car drives the same distance as two or three this immediately reduces the depletion of stocks of oil, as well as making transport cheaper by sharing petrol costs.
d) More cars mean more parking spaces. With the University expanding student numbers to 7000 by the end of the century we would like to ensure that the most beautiful campus in Britain does not get covered in concrete!
e) It's nice to share - 'nuff said!!!
HOW DO I PARTICIPATE IN CAR SHARING?
You can join the car sharing scheme by filling in the application form available from the car permit stall at registration, the Green Group stall at the Fresher's Fair, or the car share stall on the link bridge on Tuesdays and Thursdays, until 4th October. We will then input the information into our rinky dinky daisywheel computer and, if the programmers have done their job right, we will have the information sent out to your home address by the 10th October. The Green Group and the Estates and Buildings Department will follow this up with a monitoring exercise later this semester to keep tabs on the success of the scheme.
Thanks go out to the Environmental Responsibility Committee, Estates and Buildings and the Green Group for this scheme, and to you for attempting to lead a more sustainable lifestyle.... by making this work!!!
Ross
In the meantime, please explore the Green Group's useful web pages by clicking on the link below....
