Because we are different.

Share a car, take a backseat

13 January 2013

statesman news service   

KOLKATA, 13 JAN: As vintage and classic car aficionados took turns in the driving seat at The Statesman Birla Tyres Vintage and Classic Car Rally today, a group of environmental campaigners spread the word on Backseat Buddies, a new car-sharing campaign.  

Earth Day Network aim to reduce the amount of cars on the road by promoting the idea of car-shares and car-pool initiatives, which are already popular in Europe and the United States.   

Car-sharing and car pooling could be an efficient way to reduce traffic jams and pollution, as well as conserving fuel and money. In some models of car pooling, registered drivers can rent cars for short periods of time, which works out cheaper both in terms of cost and carbon footprint.   

Following the growing popularity of car-sharing, multinational car hire companies like Hertz and Avis have introduced their own car-sharing initiatives as an alternative to car hire.  

Aiming their message primarily at the younger generation, Earth Day Network representatives held environmental quizzes and put on a carbon footprint game, which turned out to be very popular with the kids in the stadium. Taking a break from the cars, kids flocked to the fun.   

“Today has gone really well,” said Earth Day Network's country director (India), Mrs Karuna Singh. “It's been fantastic to see so many kids show so much interest. They all wanted to know about car-sharing and car-pooling and were trying to understand what it's all about.”  

Mrs Singh said that they are taking the campaign to 10 schools across Kolkata, encouraging parents to start car-sharing initiatives for school runs. Vintage car-owners showed lots of interest in the campaign, and quite a number could be seen sporting ‘Backseat Buddies’ badges on their rally day get-up.