Hansard

First, I thank the members from all parties who signed my motion and those who have stayed late tonight to debate it. I am grateful to them all.

How can we keep the daily commute convenient and door-to-door yet also cut costs, congestion and carbon? There is one simple but often overlooked answer—lift sharing. I will use this debate to highlight the benefits of lift sharing. I believe that encouraging car sharing and other more sustainable transport options can play a key part in helping the transport sector to meet its share of Scotland’s climate change reduction targets.

We know that the transport sector is one of the big carbon emitters and that more than two thirds of its emissions come from road transport. Although I am glad that there has been steadily growing interest in sustainable transport solutions, I am surprised that one of the simplest and most effective solutions often seems to be overlooked. There is a lack of awareness at the Government level of the role that lift sharing already plays in the mobility mix and its potential to help to overcome many transport issues. It can be especially useful in rural areas, where public transport options are often few and far between.

The Government’s recently published draft report on proposals and policies in relation to climate change makes no reference to the promotion of car sharing, yet increasing its take-up could be one fairly quick and effective solution that is worth pursuing. I have already written to the Minister for Transport and Infrastructure about that omission, and I urge him to establish a clear strategy to determine how lift sharing can be encouraged across Scotland.

The good thing about lift sharing—or car sharing or car pooling, as it is also known—is that it is not just another worthy scheme but one that has an instant effect on people’s wallets. With petrol prices rising by the week and, according to the RAC Foundation, the looming threat of the £8 gallon, the time is ripe to raise awareness of the benefits of car sharing.

Car sharing is a fairly instant way for people to cut their fuel costs. If they find three other people, they pay to go to work only once every four days. In my region, where commutes routinely involve a 40-mile round trip, that is quite a saving. Car sharing is an attractive alternative to single-occupant vehicle travel because of its door-to-door directness and convenience. Aside from the financial savings that are to be made, the main benefit of car sharing is that each person in the car—other than the driver, obviously—potentially represents a vehicle trip removed from the road.

Car sharing reduces travel costs. The average person who shares their daily trip saves around £900 a year. It reduces car traffic, congestion and parking issues. It reduces emissions, of course—the average person who shares their daily trip saves around 1 tonne of CO2 a year. It improves access and reduces exclusion, because for many people there are not always convenient, viable or affordable alternatives to car travel. It also increases social interaction. Interestingly, it improves road safety. Research has shown that people who share cars are 50 per cent less likely to have an accident.

Membership of liftshare, the United Kingdom-wide car-sharing network has now exceeded 400,000, through the operation of 1,346 car-sharing schemes. Liftshare, which is a social enterprise, deserves to be congratulated on that success. Liftshare is the UK’s premier car-sharing organisation and it works with the public and private sectors throughout the UK to set up online journey-matching tools and to help employers to market and monitor schemes.

Lift-share schemes can be private, closed schemes for single employers. In my constituency, organisations such as Aberdeen College, Robert Gordon University, the national health service, the councils, and employers such as Subsea 7 and Taqa Bratani all have schemes. They can also be open schemes at a regional or national level. They help people to find fellow travellers for regular journeys or even for one-off trips. They can even help people who do not have cars. Lift sharing does not need to be the choice for every trip, and people who car share do not need to live near each other. Councils are now encouraging people to use park-and-ride sites to meet up, giving free parking to those who choose to park and share.

I want to highlight an innovative regional scheme in the north-east of Scotland that is partnered with liftshare. The getabout initiative helps people to get from A to B in the Aberdeen city and shire region, which has high levels of commuting and significant congestion. Among other things, that congestion impacts on the effective running of public transport.

At the moment, about 80 per cent of commuter trips in the north-east are single occupant. Realising that that was not sustainable, north east of Scotland transport partnership and its partners set up getabout. The project was developed almost two years ago, and has eight partners across all the large organisations in Aberdeen city and shire. Its aim is to create a better transport network to promote greater choice and sustainable travel. It has developed a common brand under which everyone can run their own events or joint events, and it deals with a range of issues from travel plans to travel awareness activities. Its website is a virtual one-stop shop for information about travel choices, and getabout has taken quite a fun and fresh approach to encouraging people to get about more sustainably. Getabout has also carried out more than 110 events, from business days to road closures during European car-free day.

Recently, getabout has developed an online travel plan building and monitoring tool, which is offered free and allows businesses to write their own travel plans. Another piece of software called iTRACE has been installed to monitor travel plans and provide up-to-date figures on modal shift, carbon reduction and active travel. The information that it gathers will be invaluable in refining and promoting the ideas of the future. Although it is widely used in England, its use is a first for Scotland, and I hope that other regions will be able to follow that lead.

What do we need to do to encourage greater take-up of lift sharing? The Government needs to provide support and leadership, and councils and the private sector should work together to develop or enhance local schemes. We need to keep selling the idea and refreshing the message over the long term.

Concerns about safety and convenience can be easily addressed, and people should be reassured that the service is tried and tested. I would be interested to see a trial of high-occupancy vehicle lanes and the development of more park-and-share sites at strategic locations. Employers can help by earmarking premium parking places for car sharers and providing other incentives. I know of one company that has offered regular users of lift sharing an extra day’s leave per year.

Employers can help to build confidence in their scheme by providing a guaranteed ride home, so that if the driver falls ill, or in the event of an emergency, people can get home. Existing examples show that those guarantees are seldom used and rarely abused, but they can be used to help to persuade potential car sharers.

The transport sector is facing many challenges, but the need to reduce carbon and costs cannot be ignored. Looking forward, the Government has less money to invest in large-scale modal shift projects. These small-scale, softer options are cost effective and quick to implement, and they could play a significant role in bringing about the type of change that we want to see. I hope that others agree.

17:56