Businesses are being invited to sign up to a new journey sharing platform to save their staff money and help reduce emissions.
Join My Journey is a free online service that matches commuters up from the same workplace to share walking, cycling and car journeys.
It has been commissioned by Bristol City Council, working with Travelwest and South Gloucestershire Council, to give people more options when it comes to the daily commute.
Business leaders across Bristol and the West of England are now being encouraged to sign up their companies and organisations to the online platform so their staff can easily share journeys to work.
To get started a designated person from each business needs to register for free with the website and create a company hub.
Once the hub has been verified, members of staff can start using Join My Journey to save money, reduce rush hour congestion and pollution and connect with co-workers.
For anyone who does not work in a large company, there is also the option to join an area hub, where smaller businesses are linked up with others to share journeys to the same area.
Councillor Don Alexander, Cabinet Member for Transport, said:
Join My Journey is an innovative platform that solves multiple problems, including cutting travel costs, congestion and pollution.
We encourage businesses and organisations to sign up and create company hubs so their staff can access the benefits of sharing journeys.
With Bristol’s Clean Air Zone starting next week, now is a good time for us all to consider how we can change the way we travel, to reduce our impact on the environment and make the air we breathe cleaner.
You could save money if you and some of your colleagues take it in turns to drive one another to work by sharing fuel costs and cutting down on the wear and tear of your vehicle.
Join My Journey also gives you the option to buddy up when walking or cycling to work, which is especially handy as we head into winter when it gets dark so early. It’s also a great way to meet people from the same workplace, keep fit, and enjoy the journey.
Join My Journey has been trialled with the University of the West of England and North Bristol NHS Trust.
Tony Hudgell, Director of Operational Estates and Facilities for North Bristol NHS Trust, said:
The Join My Journey platform is a useful asset to have in our sustainable travel package. With over 12,000 staff, there is a great opportunity for us to help reduce air pollution and get the added benefit of saving costs by sharing a lift.
The online platform works out the logistics of linking people up and was very easy to set up. All we had to do was create a hub and tell our staff about it.
It’s fantastic to have this platform available and we have around 100 members of staff signed up and already sharing lifts. We will be promoting the platform heavily over the coming months to encourage our staff to embrace more sustainable ways to get to work.
To use Join My Journey, simply register, create or join a hub, search for a journey, then join a journey or host one.
Safety features include only being visible to colleagues in the same workplace or agreed businesses nearby.
To discuss how your business could benefit from setting up a company hub, email travelwestbusiness@bristol.gov.uk.