Liftshare clocks up the miles

Members of Norfolk internet company liftshare are now clocking up an estimated one billion miles of UK road travel each year.

Members of Norfolk internet company liftshare are now clocking up an estimated one billion miles of UK road travel each year.

New statistics from the UK car-sharing network - based in Attleborough - include the landmark figure, calculated on the current level of sharing by its members and the journeys registered on its system.

"One billion miles is a phenomenal figure - almost too large to comprehend," said liftshare's founder, Ali Clabburn. "Yet that is how many car-miles liftshare's members are sharing every year. The financial and environmental implications for this are also self-evident."

Enthusiast Norman Hadleigh calculates that he is sharing 18,000 miles a year through the scheme, which he likened to about three-quarters the length of the equator, or driving from London to the west coast of Australia and back.

"Car-sharing really opens your eyes to the thousands of cars trundling up and down Britain's roads with just one occupant. Day after day, they take up the same 50 feet of highway, probably tailing the same car as the day before.

"It's madness. By car-sharing, we could easily halve the amount of traffic on our nation's rush-hour roads," he said.

liftshare's new statistics can be found at www.liftshare.com/business/livestats.asp