Lift sharing

A number of months ago I signed up with the website Liftshare.com. They provide a service whereby people who commute to work can get together and share lifts. The sharers split the cost of the petrol and it also, in theory, helps the environment by removing another potential vehicle from the roads.

I now car share with Judith who lives just up the road from me in Bristol and commutes to an industrial estate on the edge of Chippenham that I drive past every day. She was taking the train to work but it was costing her over £150 per month and she was getting home anything up to two hours after me. Now petrol will cost us £14 a week each which is quite a saving for both her and me.

On our first day of car sharing the road network, with almost comic timing, failed us. A 10 mile tail back on the M4, due to an 9 car pile-up, caused me to be almost half an hour late for work when normally I arrive about a quarter of an hour early.