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University of Sussex Car Share
If you have any further problems using the site then please contact 'support'
Car-sharing is when there is more than one occupant in a private car. We all share cars regularly, with our friends and family, without thinking about it. But there are often times when a driver has empty seats in the car because they don't know of anyone who needs a lift.
And that's where organised car-sharing, using the best of today's technology, comes in.
The liftshare matching service puts people travelling in the same direction or a similar destination in contact with each other, allowing them to arrange to travel together and share the costs, whilst also reducing congestion and pollution on our roads.
The UK has the worst congestion, longest commuting time, second highest road utilisation and highest car ownership in the EU.
The UK's traffic situation has led to significant social, economic and environmental costs:
Sharing a car:
If half of UK motorists received a lift one day a week, congestion and pollution would be reduced by 10% and traffic jams by 20%.
liftshare recommends that passengers pay the driver 10p per mile each and £1 towards general vehicle depreciation.
Therefore as a driver...
And as a passenger...
The service is available to anyone who travels in the UK - students, commuters, people on the school run, football supporters, festival goers, tourists, employees - anyone!
And joining the scheme is simple and completely FREE. All you have to do is register your details (for security reasons) and we will send you your password via e-mail.
If you would like to change your password to one you will remember more easily click on Personal.
Please keep a note of your password, as you will need it for future entry to the site. If, however, you happen to forget it you can click on Send me my password. Your password will be sent to your e-mail address immediately.
Once you've registered you journey and submitted the information we'll search the database for possible matches and give you the details of other people going your way.
You can contact any suitable travelling companions via their e-mail (this ensures members privacy) and arrange to meet them at a collection point that suits you both. Make sure you both bring I.D. so you both know you're meeting the right person.
Another way of getting involved is to set up a car-sharing Group, or you can get us to develop one of our Branded Car-sharing Schemes for your company, village, town, service etc.
Because of the organisation involved, car sharing is most appropriate for pre-planned or regular journeys, including:
But you can also search for traveling companions for one-off journeys to anywhere in the country.
Thousands of people have had success in finding travelling companions using liftshare, and our software has been designed to identify all possible ways of getting you from a to b.
If, however, you're having difficulty in finding a match, we suggest that you look for a travelling companion for part of your journey, and do the rest on public transport.
And remember - the more members we have, the greater the chance of finding an exact match. So make sure you tell your friends about liftshare, and get them to register their journeys a.s.a.p.
No, your email address is kept hidden at all times. The only information that is visible to other users is your 'usually called' name, your smoking preference, and the journey details you added.
It is completely free to search for travelling companions. However we recommend that drivers and passengers split the cost of each journey, or passengers can pay 10p per mile.
"Participating in the lift-share scheme will not invalidate drivers' motor insurance", says Vic Rance of the Association of British Insurers.
"Drivers in doubt should contact their insurers".
Sharing cars and sharing the cost should not increase your insurance costs, though charging passengers more than their share of the running cost can invalidate your cover.
If you would like to contact your insurance company, please feel free to use our Draft Letter.
We will e-mail you your password as soon as you have registered.
If you would like to change your password to one you will remember more easily, please click on Personal, delete the asterisks in the password boxes and replace them with your own password.
The liftshare.com site has comprehensive Route Planners, information on Buses, Trains, and much, much more to help you plan your journey efficiently.
Our software also lets you set up your very own car sharing Groups free of charge, so that you can establish an exclusive closed group for you and your friends, or a new open group for people with particular interests.
We also provide Branded Car Sharing Schemes for groups, companies or communities who want to provide a cheap and easy way for people to travel. Other services include Consulting Services, Travel Surveys, Transport Website design and help in Promoting Your Scheme.
We have a huge number of public groups that you can join at no extra cost, enabling you to find travelling companions with similar interests or destinations to you. Click here to see a complete list of public groups.
You can also establish your own Private Group to which access would be restricted.
Setting up a group is easy! All you need to do is decide whether you want to set up a Private Group, where membership is restricted, or a Public Group, where anyone can join. For example, you might want to set up a closed group for you and your colleagues. Or you could set up an open group for anyone interested in classical music. For more information just click on Groups and follow the instructions!
Having selected a suitable travelling match, you should make contact (to agree a time and place to meet) using their e-mail address. We do not recommend that you exchange home addresses (for security reasons), and we advise all members to meet in public locations such as a train station or bus station, which are easy to get to and away from, should the lift fail.
liftshare is solely a travel information service provider and we cannot be held responsible for any journeys that don't work out as planned. Likewise the drivers and passengers who register their journeys with us are under no legal obligation to their travelling companions or to liftshare to make any journeys.
Sussex University are happy to offfer a guaranteed ride home if your liftshare failes for whatever reason. In the event of the need of a lift home then please contact ext 7777 (Estates and Facilities Management Helpdesk) by 5:00pm.
We hope that if plans change and journeys can't be made, that all affected parties will be contacted and forewarned with appropriate notice. We also suggest that travelling companions arrange to meet at locations close to public transport networks, so that if plans fall through the passengers have the option of using an alternative form of transport to get to their destination on time.
The safety of our members is a priority for liftshare, and we have made our web-site as secure as we can. All members' details are stored securely in the database and only the members' intended travel information can be accessed on-line.
When it comes to travelling, every member is responsible for his or her own safety. However we do recommend that members' follow some simple security measures outlined below:
For more information about safety and security of personal information please read Terms and Conditions and the Privacy Policy
Yes, through our public groups you can join all male or female car sharing schemes.
We recommend that you meet your travelling companions at a public place, close to public transport networks if possible so that alternative transport options are available should the lift fall through. We advise members not to meet at a home address for security reasons.
To cancel your membership, please click on the Personal Details page and select 'Please remove my details'. All your details will be removed from the database immediately.
To edit any of your personal details such as your default e-mail address or password, please click on Personal Details, followed by 'Update my details'. Your can amend your details as necessary, and the records in our database will be updated automatically. Any new details will also be e-mailed through to you for your records.
liftshare can build you your own branded car-sharing web-site, either to stand alone or as part of your existing web-site or intranet. For more information, see our page on Branded Web Sites.
