News

University car sharing scheme spreads

(30 March 2004)

The Queen’s Campus car share scheme has been extended to include the Durham Campus.

Following the success of the scheme at Queen’s Campus, the University car sharing website is now available to staff and students based in Durham, enabling them to find suitable car share ‘partners’ online.

The website was originally created in a bid to reduce the number of cars travelling to and from the busy Teesdale site on which Queen’s Campus is based. After many requests for a similar scheme in Durham, the website has been upgraded and now includes a Durham Campus section.

The special site has been designed to help staff and students find suitable car sharers on their journey to and from the University helping to reduce traffic congestion as well as being environmentally friendly and saving people some money. The website not only enables staff to search for car sharers between their home and work but also includes potential car shares between Queen’s Campus and Durham during the working day.

The car share scheme is part of Queen’s Campus’s wider green travel initiatives which aim to publicise alternatives to the private car and encourage the take up of green travel. A Green Travel Plan has been developed to promote public transport services and the use of bicycles, as well as implement improvements to transport services.

The Green Travel Plan Working Group has been established to move towards achieving the aims of the plan and a number of measures have already been put into place. A travel information web page is available to staff and students with information about ‘green’ methods of travelling to and from Queen’s Campus, a Bicycle Users Group has been created to improve the facilities available to cyclists and a Pedestrian and Public Transport Users Forum has been established.

The University has developed an inter-campus bus service between Stockton and Durham in association with Arriva to improve travel between the University’s two sites. Staff and students can take advantage of a free bus service and also a reduced ticket price on public bus services during University term time.

The car share web site can be accessed via the following link:

Car Share Homepage and is available to staff and students with a valid University email account.

For further information about the Green Travel Plan visit:Travel Information Homepage