A fact often overlooked when looking at the congestion on our roads is that although our roads are indeed congested, they are full of cars with empty seats in them. Empty seats are a huge waste in efficiency. It’s not rocket science that a car carrying 2 people is going to be nearly twice as fuel efficient as two cars with just one person in each and take up half the amount of road space. Read the rest of this entry »
Why you are stuck in traffic. Fascinating statistics from the Department of Transport
April 29th, 2010Ever wondered why you’re stuck in traffic? This might enlighten you:
According to the Road Traffic Management Corporation’s Road Traffic Report – September 2009:
At the end of 2009 there were 8,600,031 registered motorised vehicles in South Africa. This number has been increasing year on year…which tells me that traffic should get worse year on year.
Statistic South Africa executed a survey on behalf of the Department of Transport. Read the rest of this entry »
Enabling Organised Journey-Sharing in South Africa
April 28th, 2010Lateral thinking (‘exploring multiple possibilities and approaches instead of pursuing a single approach’) can provide many valuable new tools in solving old problems.
At a time of ever increasing traffic volume on our roads, social exclusion, rising congestion, pollution and an apparent lack of viable public transport or road building solutions it surely is time for some serious lateral thinking. The demand on our transport system is growing and the side effects of this growth are having serious implications on individuals, businesses and the environment. Read the rest of this entry »
Findalift.co.za reaches 1000 registered members in its first 3 months
April 6th, 2010With 8,600,031 registered motorised vehicles in South Africa at the end of 2009, we still have a long way to go to accomplish our mission: ‘To encourage and enable more efficient travel and transport in South Africa’. However, this milestone is incredible progress given the fact that 1000 members have registered since the launch in January 2010. Read the rest of this entry »
“Give us 49c a litre extra!” Are you still not considering making use of the empty seats in your car?
March 31st, 2010As a motorist you don’t care about why the petrol price moves up and down. When the price goes down, you think “hey that’s great news” but when the price goes up…and up.. you get nervous. You know what it means. You know its effects… and 49c extra per litre is scary! On the bright side, those drivers who car-share will be hit less hard than everyone else.
An increase in the price of petrol influences you in more ways than just the price it costs to fill your tank. Almost everything gets more expensive. Increased transportation costs must be added to just about everything to ensure similar profit margins are being sustained by suppliers/manufacturers.
Will an extra 49c a litre have a damaging affect on your wallet? Read the rest of this entry »
FIFA 2010 World Cup – Make sure you can say: “I Carpooled There”
March 31st, 2010Less than 2 months to go and we will experience and host one of the greatest events on earth. The FIFA 2010 World Cup does however bring many challenges to our infrastructure.
How will we cope with all the challenges? One challenge that concerns me is the flow of traffic to and from our stadiums. Everyone with a ticket will need to have transport to and from a match. Yes there will be busses, shuttle services, taxis and you might have a ticket that includes transfer to and from the stadium. But for most South Africans it will mean driving by car the same way as to any other sporting event. Read the rest of this entry »
National Energy Efficiency Agency (NEEA) confirms support of findalift.co.za
March 26th, 2010At findalift.co.za we certainly do not sit around waiting for things to happen. We are working hard to accomplish our mission: To encourage and enable more efficient use of cars in South Africa.
Barry Bredenkamp, General Operations Manager, NEEA, yesterday congratulated findalift by commenting: “This is great news and a great initiative. Well done!”
One of the key objectives of the NEEA is to stimulate areas neglected in terms of energy efficiency in the past, such as the transport sector. Our mission at findalift.co.za clearly fits this objective like a glove. Read the rest of this entry »
Beware of the Vultures in online carpool services
March 24th, 2010Put one foot outside the door and your bank account starts deflating. Keep both feet indoors…and the same happens when you go online.
Many sites offers you a basic service free of charge, but wait… there’s got to be a catch right?
“Upgrade Your Advert!” “Send an SMS from our site” “Ensure your advert is always on top” “…oh and by the way it’s going to cost you a premium rate” Read the rest of this entry »
Organised Carpooling for DUMMIES
March 22nd, 2010Are you sitting there thinking: “Carpool.. rideshare.. car-share.. joining a lift club…. Ekskuus?! Yintoni le?! Yini?! WHAT??!!”
It simply means one thing: To find others travelling the same way as you, so you can share the journey.
Organised journey-sharing is almost unheard of in South Africa. Until now the only way you’d know about someone driving to where you need to go is by word-of-mouth. The internet has helped us in many ways since the dotcom boom in 1998…and now also with carpooling… Read the rest of this entry »