October 2010 New NUI Galway Car Sharing Website Launched

A new website which affords staff and students of NUI Galway the opportunity to arrange car sharing, was recently launched by the University. The website, www.carsharing.ie/nuigalway lets staff and students arrange car sharing on an informal basis with colleagues who have similar commutes by registering their details online. The scheme will contribute to the effective mobility management of staff and students at NUI Galway. An NUI Galway travel survey showed that of those questioned, 38 per cent of staff driving alone said that they would be willing to car share while 56 per cent of students driving alone were interested in participating in such a scheme. The scheme has the added incentive that where an unforeseen emergency arises with the driver involved in car-sharing, the remaining passengers are ensured of a way home under the 'Guaranteed Lift Home Scheme'. According to Mr. Keith Warnock, NUI Galway Vice-President for Capital Projects and member of the Mobility Management Group, "Car-sharing is a scheme that has the potential to work very well for both staff and students of the University. It will be an on-going project which we hope will be expanded to a more formal car-pooling scheme in the future. It is one of a number of measures that have been introduced by the University which should reduce traffic problems for the city." Mr. Warnock added that the Park-and-Ride facility located at Dangan in Galway is proving to be very popular this year. "We are delighted with the interest so far in this initiative. The feedback from staff and students is that they are very interested in protecting the environment and in reducing travel costs", says NUI Galway's Environmental Manager, Dr Aoife Collins. Dr Collins added that an additional beneficial outcome of the scheme is that roads could potentially become safer for pedestrians and cyclists due to a reduction in motorised traffic. -Ends-