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Carpooling takes thousands of cars off the road
27 July 2016
Carpooling takes thousands of cars off the road
Imagine a line of cars stretched bumper to bumper from Auckland’s CBD to Hamilton.
That’s the number of cars that have been taken off Auckland’s roads each week during the morning peak thanks to the Let’s Carpool programme, increased public transport use and extra cycling and walking facilities.
Auckland Transport’s annual evaluation shows that each week there are 33,570 fewer cars on the roads during morning peak traffic as a result of the Commute programme engaging with organisations and individuals throughout the region.
Workwear Group is one company getting involved with AT’s Let’s Carpool programme.
Rita Hari, from Workwear Group, carpools to work every day. She says it’s a faster, easier way to get to work. “I have been carpooling for the past two or three years. The person I carpool with lives near me. The big thing is it saves time. Plus, it’s a good way to get to know your neighbours.”
Her colleague Rupa Acharya also carpools, saying if everyone chips in it also makes it a more affordable option. “It’s not cheap to run a car, and I don’t drive so this is the best way for me to get to work.”
AT’s Travel Demand Manager Melanie Alexander says this year’s results are a reflection of the increasing number of travel choices available to Aucklanders and their desire to find more efficient ways of commuting. The Travel Demand team work with businesses and individuals throughout the region to promote these travel choices.
“We set a goal of lowering the number of single occupancy vehicles on the roads by 6000 per day. We surpassed that goal, reducing the number of cars on the road by 6714.”
This decrease equates to an annual reduction of 1.64 million trips and a total distance of 17.2 million km travelled, enough to go around the earth more than 420 times. It also means a 5582 tonne reduction in CO2 emissions.
Registrations for the Let’s Carpool programme reached 9720, exceeding the target of 8000.
The programme is a way for organisations and individuals to find other people in Auckland making a similar commute, and joins them up to share the ride. It reduces the number of cars on the road and saves drivers money.
For more on carpooling: https://at.govt.nz/driving-parking/commute/carpooling/
ENDS
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