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Some ideas to help kick your car habit
How we can help you to change.
How many times have you thought you’d like to kick the habit of using the car for every trip but somehow you still get into your car every time you leave the house?
Well now’s your chance.
If any of the following apply to you and you also drive to work the BIG Green Commuter Challenge might be a good way to kick the car habit and help improve the health of the planet as well as your own. There could be many reasons why you would like to stop using your car so much, you might:-
- want to lose weight
- get fitter
- feel healthier
- save money
- feel less stressed
- want to know exactly how long it will take to travel to work
- be concerned about the environment
- hate being stuck in traffic jams
- know that you should think about using your car less but just can’t get round to it
Route planning
First plan your route (think about the way you will travel, how long you will need and what time you will need to set off). You can use an online journey planner such as Transport Direct, cycle or public transport maps to help you.
Walking
Check the best route, make sure you have a waterproof coat and/ or umbrella if it look like rain.
Cycling
Check out your bike, pump up the tyres, check the brakes, pack your bag with everything that you will need for work. Ensure that you have either checked the route using a cycle routes map to help you plan the best roads to use, or find someone who already cycles to work to give you some advice.
Bus and train
Find out the times of the bus or train, give yourself enough time to get to the bus stop or station. Take a book or MP3 to take full advantage of the time that you have to yourself.
Car share
Find a carshare partner, either by registering on your company carshare database, some companies are members of the Hantscarshare database www.hantscarshare.com, which is available to members of the public to use, or ask around the office.
Once you have made your plans for the BIG Green Commuter Challenge remember to take the precaution of hiding your car keys the night before so you won’t be tempted to get into the car in the morning!
Use the BIG Green Commuter Challenge to help you find an alternative way to travel to work. Remember you might need to try if more than once to see if you could continue. It takes a long time to get into bad habits and it will take some time to change them! You might want to try a couple of options to see which works best for you and then think about trying to change the way you travel for one or two days a week at first.
Before you know it you will be kicking the car habit out the window.
