A WEBSITE to encourage car sharing across Hertfordshire has attracted plenty of interest since it was set up by the county council in January, with nearly 2,000 people joining as members.

The site, Hertsliftshare.org, incorporated several previous sites covering towns such as Watford and Welwyn Garden City, but now links people needing to travel regularly on several cross-county routes.

More than 20 businesses have their own portals to the site – which can be used via a secure access system – and the county council is encouraging more to join up.

Councillor Stuart Pile, cabinet member for roads and transport, said: “The need to reduce the number of single occupancy vehicles on our roads to help tackle congestion, parking problems and environmental damage has long been recognised and the county council has been working steadily for many years to try and encourage people to sign up to the idea of car sharing.

“While it does take time to change attitudes to personal travel, the signs are that many people are keen to try sharing if they can. Now, thanks to initiatives like Hertsliftshare, we can help make it much easier for people to match up in a more systematic way than has been possible in the past.”