Liftshare taps into the sharing economy as a social enterprise helping individuals to travel more sustainably by sharing their journeys.

The must-have ‘travel’ tool helps people, needing a ride, to find other travellers with spare seats going the same route.

Liftshare is the UK’s largest car sharing scheme, according to Which?, with over 500,000 members using its services.

The website was launched back in 1998 but only recently became available on a smartphone device and Apple Watch mid-last year.

Ali Clabburn discovered his innovation as he was preparing to travel back home, from university, for the Christmas holidays.

He says: “I was a student at Bristol University back in 1996, and realised when the Christmas holidays rolled around that I didn’t have enough money for the train fare back home to Norfolk.

I guessed there must be someone else going my way, and so pinned a message up on a student union noticeboard.

The next day I had three offers of a lift, and took a guy called Joe up on his offer – We’re still friends today.

The idea was born from this experience, and following a short stint in the Virgin post room to earn some cash, I started up Liftshare with the help of some friends in my sister’s bedroom.”

“The App is completely free to download and use. The lifts on the main site feeds through to the Apps, so no matter what version of the system you’re using, you’ll still have access to all of the journeys available. 

If you’re a passenger, you can agree a petrol contribution to pay to your driver, and this can be paid either online through our secure payment system, or in cash.

If you’re travelling often with someone, you may choose to alternate the driving rather than exchange money. We even have some members pay others in cake.”

Ali plans to use the award-winning app to solve transport poverty and save the world through sharing.

Liftshare.com