• Transition Aberdeen
  • Transition background
  • In Aberdeen
  • Success Stories
  • Links
• Eco-Challenge
  • Background
  • The programme
  • Waste
  • The Waste Hierarchy
  • Energy
  • Transport
• Master Composter
• Creative Waste Exch.
  • Membership
    • To join
  • Price List
  • For sale
• Real Nappy Project
  • Useful links
• Compost Doctor
• City Composting
• Shire Composting

Steps to reduce your car use

Step 1 – Walking and Cycling
Doctors recommend about 30 minutes of exercise each day but that doesn’t necessarily mean running flat out on a treadmill at the gym. It can mean walking or cycling a reasonable distance. By walking and cycling you’ll be exposed to one third of the fumes of car travel and have the opportunity to meet people en route.
Choose a step from the list below and start incorporating walking or cycling into your weekly travel patterns. Once you’re comfortable with this, move on to another step. Build these up until you have incorporated all the steps that you can fit into your lifestyle.

• Walk or cycle to work once or twice a week. You’ll find you arrive invigorated and can work off the day’s stress on the way home.
• Combine walking or cycling with public transport for longer distances. You could walk to the bus stop or cycle to the train station.
• Walk or cycle all round-trips under a mile. Minimise what you carry, use good load-carrying aids or get a taxi back home if there are many heavy messages.
• Encourage your children to walk or cycle to school once or twice a week. They’ll learn valuable road safety skills, gain independence and arrive at school alert and ready for the day ahead.
• Go for a walk just for pleasure. Join a walking club or organisations in your area.
• Go for a cycle run just for pleasure. If you don’t own your own bicycle, hire or borrow one to try it out first.

Think about personal safety before your journey – planning in advance will reduce the risk of harm. To increase your confidence when out and about sign up for a Personal Safety The more people that choose to get out of their cars and onto the streets the safer our communities will feel.

The energy efficiency of cycling is estimated as the equivalent of a car doing 1600 miles on one gallon of petrol.

Step 2 – Public Transport
For many journeys, the public transport network represents a real alternative to the car. By using public transport you’ll avoid the stress of driving in heavy traffic peak time and the expense and hassle of finding parking. Remember to allow time to get to the bus stop or train station and keep change aside for your fare.

Choose a step from the list below and start using public transport in your weekly travel patterns. Once you’re comfortable with this, move on to another step. Build up until you have incorporated all the steps that you can fit into your lifestyle.

• Familiarise yourself and your family with local public transport routes, times and fares.
• Take the bus or train to work once or twice a week – you can catch up on some reading or simply use the time to relax before the day ahead.
• Use public transport for shopping trips to town – you’ll avoid costly parking fees and take the hassle out of your day.
• Use the train, bus or coach for leisure trips. By letting someone else do the driving you’ll enjoy the day that much more. Look for discounted tickets such as apex, family passes or group travel.
• Take a taxi back from the shops if you’ve heavy messages to carry or organise a regular taxi share with a friend. Make a list of taxi numbers and ring round about fares.
• Familiarise your children with local public transport, timetables and independent travel and you can stop being their “taxi”.
• Bus users breathe a third less pollution than car users.

Step 3 – Responsible Car Use
Sustainable travel doesn’t necessarily mean abandoning the car. Indeed, for many, the car is an essential part of life. However, there are also many incentives for changing the way we use our cars, both financially and for a better quality of life.
Habit and your first choice of transport can influence how you get around for the rest of the day. Stop and think about your first journey of each day and then try changing it for the better. By making small changes to the way you use your car and sometimes thinking about other ways to travel, you can reduce the impact of your car without turning your life upside down.

Choose a step from the list below and start making better use of your car.
Once you’re comfortable with this, move on to another step. Build up until you have incorporated all the steps that you can fit into your lifestyle.

• Find an alternative to your single-occupancy car commuting at least twice a week. Instead you could walk, cycle, take public transport or lift share with a colleague or friend
• Combine your car journeys by doing several things on the same trip instead of making a special trip for each e.g. pick up a video or do the shopping on the way home from work. Make lists so you don’t forget. You’ll save both time and money.
• Don’t use the car for short journeys. A cold car engine produces 60% more fumes and uses more fuel than when warm. Walk or cycle instead.
• Reduce your need to travel. Use the phone, text, Internet and delivery services.
• Make sure your car is running at its optimum efficiency. Have it serviced every year and check your tyres regularly. A 7psi under-inflation wastes half a gallon of fuel per tank
• Drive efficiently. Aggressive driving increases fuel consumption by over 25% while pulling away too fast uses 60% more fuel!
• Turn the engine off when stopping for more than 30 seconds. This will save fuel, money and emissions.
• Calculate the true costs of using your car. Go to www.carclubs.org.uk or send a SAE to Ann Semlyen, 24 Grange St, York, YO10 4BH for a free paper copy.
• Cutting your car use will save you money, improve your health and improve everyone’s quality of life.

Step 4 – Even Smarter Travel
Once you’ve worked your way through steps 1-3, have a read through the tips below that could help you reduce costs even more and help you cut down on your fuel consumption.
Work your way through each steps until you have incorporated all the steps that you can fit into your lifestyle.

Work

• Choose work by its proximity to your home or choose to live near good public transport links.
• Request flexi-time. Then being slightly late or early is not a problem and you can fit your hours around timetables. Employers are required by law to consider flexi-time requests by parents of children under 6 years old.
• Ask for compressed working (when you can take a day off if hours are worked in advance).
• Work from home.
• Talk to managers about workplace travel plans

The School Run

• Choose your nearest school and consider re-locating or working nearer if necessary
• Run / endorse a lift share scheme
• Help set up a “walking or cycling bus”

Shopping

• Utilise delivery services. Most major supermarkets and some local stores offer delivery services, either through on line ordering or by telephone or fax. Some will pack a hand-written list.
• Buy direct from the producer E.g. Farm box schemes. By buying direct from farms you’ll get the best seasonal produce.
• Shop locally
• Use the Internet for banking – it is secure and convenient.
• Plan in advance and write lists so that you don’t forget anything.

Leisure

• If you need to travel long distances consider taking public transport for some or the entire journey, then hiring a car. Look for deals integrating car hire with other tickets e.g. rail.
• Find local leisure pursuits and explore from your door.
• If you are flying abroad on holiday or need to take a business trip, make your flight “carbon neutral” by having trees planted to offset the emissions generated by your flight. To calculate the emissions of any airline flight and / or buy trees for planting see Future Forests at www.futureforests.com or Tel: 0870 1999 988.