It’s that time of year again, suddenly everyone is whizzing off on long trips everywhere, and to celebrate the fact that Christmas is coming up we’ve got a little goCarShare competition:
The next three passengers and the next three drivers to book a car share this festive period will win a tenner, simple as that. A nice little sweetener for our ‘car share heroes’ … our way of saying thank you to you.
Good luck!
The Small Print:
The journeys have to be formally booked on goCarShare (we can check in our database).
We need to know that the journey actually takes place so we would like you to take a few snaps en-route and send them to us afterwards.
As we approach the end of term, a little problem presents itself: you are not one of the super organised students who bought their train ticket 6 weeks in advance. You are now faced with spending the dregs of your student loan getting a train ticket home, not only that, you are somehow going to have to get your luggage across town. Not great.
There is an alternative though, at goCarShare.com we are helping students share car journeys home at the end of term.
The idea – students with a car can sell their empty car seats to other students, the website calculates how much the passenger pays the driver automatically.
The driver gets a contribution towards their fuel costs, the passenger get a much cheaper journey home than taking the train, and it’s door to door for them which is a bonus.
Other than that, because the website is built around Facebook it is very easy to use. You login with your Facebook details, and you can see if you share friends or interests with the other users on the site.
We really hope you’ll give it a try. Have a fun trip home and a great festive period!
The goCarShare Team
x
PS Need a little bit of help? Just drop us a line at hello(at)gocarshare.com.
For 6 months only, I have access to a super special car. She’e a Mini but … there is a big but … she is entirely electric. 100%.
In many ways she is an amazing bit of kit, travelling from 0 – 60 in 8 seconds and being incredibly fun to drive. She costs about £1.50 to fill up too.
She does have a few drawbacks though:
Backseats … she doesn’t have any – the space is almost entirely taken up by a ginormous battery.
Oh and the range, she should go somewhere between 100 and 150 miles, but the meter is lets just say not 100% accurate.
I have already had a ‘fun’ experience driving down the hard shoulder of the motorway with the hazard lights on as Miranda began to lose power, oh and on the same day the police had to push me a hill in Oxford.
Anyway don’t let that put you off Miranda. She is an amazing achievement and I am very lucky to have the opportunity to be part of the ‘Mini E’ trial.
If you’d like a ride and you are travelling around London or Oxford, put a request on goCarShare and I’ll see what I can do. Just as long as you don’t have too much luggage!
Dear goCarSharers,
We’ve just joined a wonderful cause called 10:10 that helps you cut your carbon and save money.
Basically is unites people and organisations with the simple goal of reducing carbon emissions by 10% in one year, starting in 2010.
So it’s called 10:10, it’s has a bold but achievable target that is line with what scientists are recommending we aim for. 10:10 aims to combine and focus the efforts of individuals to make a meaningful difference.
October 10th was 10:10:10 – a ‘Global Day of Doing’ when thousands of people and organisations around the world took practical carbon-cutting actions at the same time, sending a powerful message that the world is getting to work in tackling climate change. You can find out more and plan your action at http://101010.ly
Take care,
The goCarShare Team
x
We understand that for many goCarShare users their car is a cherished old thing, not necessarily much to look at, but a fine travelling beast nonetheless. We also know that cars are expensive to run and maintain, so a lot of drivers may be considering scrapping their car and looking to be a passenger in the whole lift share experience. So wouldn’t you like to ease the blow of scrapping your car by knowing that any money raised could be given to a charity of your choice?
This is the service provided by Givecar. We are a not for profit organisation set up by 23 year old Geography graduate, Tom. He had noticed that car donation was extremely popular in the US, and thought that the same could be done in the UK, providing an easy way to dispose of an unwanted car. If you like a good deal, you’ll be pleased to know it’s absolutely free!
Giveacar came across goCarShare recently and loved the concept. Its users seem like a nice bunch, conscious of the impacts of driving on the environment and their pockets. We thought that we had a moral responsibility to tell you about our scheme, which organises for vehicles to be collected using collection and recycling facilities, scraps the car, while any money raised from the scrap metal – generally between £40-£160 – goes to charity.
The cars are taken to Authorised Treatment Facilities (ATFs) which adhere to strict environmental practices, so this method of scrapping does not harm the environment, ensuring that hazardous liquids and other materials which make up the car are disposed of in the correct manner.
So if you or anyone you know has a car that isn’t being used, and this can be for a number of reasons: it hasn’t passed its MOT, you’re trying to give up your car addiction, its proving too expensive to maintain…. then please check out the Giveacar website, www.giveacar.co.uk, or give us a call on 020 0011 1664 to find out more.
Looks like Bob Crow’s at it again, trying to stop Londoners getting into work tomorrow.
Don’t worry, goCarShare is here to help. If the tube strike is throwing up an unnecessary logistical challenge for the working week, it might be worth putting on a goCarShare request.
We’ve been sending out tweets and press releases in the hope of finding super fun, nice drivers who will take you into work tomorrow.
So post a request on goCarShare, it will take a couple of minutes max (no need to register, you can do it all through Facebook).
It’s totally free to use but best do it now so that you can sleep easy safe in the knowledge you’ll be off to work sans problem tomorrow.
Drop us a line if you have any questions.
Thanks,
Drummond
drummond(at)gocarshare.com
Edinburgh students, it was great to meet you at the freshers fair.
We really think we have created something that will be of use to you when you travel out of town, it would be great if you gave the site a try; it’s completely free to use at the moment.
Anyway, let us know what you think, we’ve set up a Facebook fan page ‘goCarShare Edinburgh’ where we will have fun competitions and updates – it would be great if you join and share your thoughts (join the fanpage rather than the group – we are in the process of closing down the group).
We’ll be back to Edinburgh soon; hopefully see you then. In the meantime, have a great time in Edinburgh – it’s a very special place.
Much love,
The goCarShare Team.
x
Brace yourself, if you are planning on taking the tube this evening – most likely you will spend a good few hours cursing, sweating and stretching your patience to the utter limit.
I thought that we would make you aware of a few alternatives:
Bicycle
I very rarely travel on the tube these days, I smugly cycle around London on my red Brompton ‘Brodie’ oblivous to what is going on underground.
If you have never cycled before, now might be the time to give a go to one of Boris’s new bikes. You can find out more here http://www.tfl.gov.uk/roadusers/cycling/14808.aspx.
If you can, try and cycle through Hyde Park on the way back – it really is beautiful … definitely recommended.
goCarShare
If you are driving back from work, or will be driving in tomorrow, here’s a great opportunity to help someone out whilst getting a little money towards petrol along the side. Oh and who knows you might meet someone really fun too.
Ask Us
We are here to help. Even if we don’t have anything suitable on goCarShare send us an email. We’ll see what we can do.
Good luck!
Drummond
hello(at)gocarshare.com
Posted by drummond in Travel
Ok, I probably shouldn’t say this too loudly, but I got my A-Level results 10 years ago to the day (I know it’s shocking, time really does fly).
I haven’t read the papers today, but I can almost predict what they will be saying ‘An ‘A’ isn’t what it used it B’, ‘exam passes have gone us 12 squillion percent today.’
My two cents are, we are living in a society that is evolving and becoming more advanced, I don’t really see why it is not possible for students who work harder, have improved technology, and maybe even better teaching, to receive better results.
Let’s look at it a different way, the world record for 100 metres running, things are definitely improving there: in 1999 Maurice Green broke the world record and ran it in 9.79 seconds (thank you Wikipedia!), since then Tim Montgomery and Asafa Powell, Justin Gaitlin have all created new world records, Usain Bolt has taken the world record down to 9.58 an improvement of over 2% in over a decade. So if people are improving at running, why shouldn’t they be improving at Chemistry too?
Anyway if you have just got your results, I hope you are happy with them and you get a chance to chill now.
If you are off to university have a read of the http://www.thecompleteuniversityguide.co.uk/news/item.htm?pid=4567. They’ll kit you out with a few useful tips and I believe one of them may involve the benefit of sharing car journeys.
I am listening to Chinese Democracy, Guns N’ Roses’ latest album that was reportedly 14 years in the making. I really want to like it, I’m sitting waiting for the tune to kick in, I am waiting, but er hang on … where is the tune?
Still it would be foolish to write off Guns N’ Roses with a back catalogue comprising songs such as Welcome to the Jungle, Sweet Child of Mine and Paradise City.
They are headlining the upcoming Reading and Leeds festivals. Who know what to expect? But it could just be one of those ‘I was there then’ shows, so probably not worth missing if you are going just in case.
Need another blast from the past, how about catching the Libertines – again, they are not known for their reliability, one things for sure though, it won’t be boring.
There’s already a fair few people car sharing to the Reading festival. You can have a look at our Destinations map on the homepage to see who exactly. If you are driving, why not get to meet a few fellow festival goers enroute and earn a bit of money to save up for a burger! Anyone who has been to the Reading Festival will know what I am talking about, the food certainly isn’t cheap.
Have a fun time.
Drummond
