Six cars off the road: (left to right) Lauren Oliver from Menai, Kris...

First year student Helen explains how carpooling works for her.

More than 650 cars off the road through carpooling at UOW

Carpooling took over 650 cars off the road in the first two days of the academic year at UOW, and is set to remove even more cars after the launch of the “Jump In – Carpooling” initiative held today (Wednesday).

More than 100 students and staff members turned up for a lunchtime information session, which provided guidance and helped guests meet others in their area through a range of activities.

The session also promoted online carpool matching service - carpoolworld.com – where over 200 people have signed up to UOW’s page to be matched with other commuters.

Among those attending the session were eight second year students living in the Sutherland/Menai areas (pictured), who already carpool to university together. They said that sharing the ride to university cut their transport costs and helped them meet other students living in their area.

“Parking at the Uni can be difficult, and carpooling saves us petrol and parking money,” Medicinal Chemistry student Monique Sparke said.

“It’s good to see the Uni doing something like this, because it lets us know who is from our area.”

As well as saving money on petrol and parking (people drive with two or more passengers receive free parking at UOW), Project Manager of Transport Tom Hunt pointed out a number of other benefits of carpooling, including less impact on the environment, safety and the fact that carpooling allows staff and student to meet new people living in their area.

Several other strategies promoting sustainable transport have already been put in place, encouraging the 55% of Illawarra students who live within 2.5 kilometres of the main campus to walk, ride or use public transport.

The University Shuttle Bus from North Wollongong Station has been free of charge since 27 January this year and the University is installing another 30 cycle racks making space available for about 700 cyclists, and providing free bike training to help staff and students feel confident in riding to University.

A new Transport Access Guide was launched during Enrolment Week in January providing easy access to information on sustainable and cheap transport options. The University is also working with Wollongong City Council and local police to identify safe walking routes and the University is considering security improvements throughout these routes to support walking as a safe alternative transport option.

More information on Sustainable Transport at the University can be found at: www.uow.edu.au/about/transport. To register to be matched with other carpoolers go to www.carpoolworld.com/uow.