80% of People Are Engaging in Lift-Sharing Despite Rishi Sunak’s Carpool U-turn

On Tuesday 3 October, 2023, the UK & Ireland’s largest car-sharing platform, Liftshare, marked National Liftshare Week, which ran from 18-24th September. The week, which aimed to get more people sharing rides, was backed by promotional activity from Liftshare, its Mobilityways group clients and local community groups involved in liftsharing.

The initiative was met with a great success, as it saw an 80% uptick in liftsharers across September and a 60% increase in journeys added to the Liftshare platform. This was in addition to a record-breaking summer for new Liftshare members, as 23,000 people joined the platform across July and August.

Julie Furnell, Mobilityways managing director, commented: “We are celebrating our silver jubilee year, saving 1 billion miles from UK roads and our best ever summer for new Liftshare members, all without mandatory policies from the Government.”

The boost in Liftshare members was thanks to Liftshare teaming up with Esso on their Thoughtful Driving campaign, encouraging people to take one less journey. As part of the initiative, Esso is helping to increase Liftshare’s exposure to get more people sharing.

Liftshare community manager, Amy Young, said: “People use Liftshare for multiple reasons – to have company on their journey and do their bit for the environment. Drivers want to split the cost of fuel, plus many enjoy helping others get from A to B more affordably and conveniently. For those who don’t drive, it can be the case that public transport is too expensive or not feasible where they live.”

National Liftshare Week was a great success, despite the negative attention brought on car-pooling from the Prime Minister’s rollback of net zero pledges, including the cancellation of a compulsory car-pooling policy that never existed. The week proved that liftsharing initiatives can be successful, even without the help of government policies.