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14 Sep 00EUROPEAN CAR FREE DAY – Friday 22nd September 2000
Planning for European Car Free Day has been helping many people to cope with the current petrol crisis.
This week, Poole Council’s Bike Cage has been full to overflowing and the 46km of cycleways in the Borough have been well used.
Teresa Brown, Travel Awareness Officer, Borough of Poole, said: "In the light of the fuel crisis, people have been having to think about the way they travel - especially because we are so dependent on cars. The number of cars is increasing every year and traffic problems across Dorset will only get worse unless we all think how we use them."
With only a week to go until Car Free Day plans are in full swing across Dorset.
Marconi Communications at Wallisdown will be offering staff who car share a voucher to use on the day in their restaurant in exchange for a drink and food. They will also give away timetables and route maps provided by Wilts & Dorset and Yellow Buses. Staff will also be able to purchase, at a reduced price, cycle helmets, which have been supplied by Bournemouth Borough Council to encourage cycling to work. Marconi will also use visual displays to generally raise awareness.
Staff at Barclays House in Poole will be travelling by bus instead of using their cars, taking advantage of Wilts & Dorset’s and Yellow Buses offer of sponsoring a number of passengers to use public transport on the day. They will complete travel diaries to record their experiences, which will be looked at by the local authorities and the bus companies.
During the evening of Car Free Day, Wilts & Dorset Buses are offering a special reduced fare for only £1 return on the X8 Service which operates between Blandford, Poole and Tower Park. The service will depart from Blandford Hospital at 1815 and 1950 and from the Market Place at 1825 and 2000, running via Charlton Marshall and Sturminster Marshall. Buses will return from Tower Park at 1910, 2135 and 2305 and from Poole Bus Station at 1920, 2145 and 2315.
There will be a Car Free Transport Information Day in Gillingham at the Magistrates Court No. 2 from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and is being organised by the Shaftesbury and Gillingham Transport Forum in partnership with public transport operators and local councils. The event is to be opened by Gillingham’s Mayor Janet Robson. It is aimed at people from in and around Shaftesbury and Gillingham who are interested in finding out more about how they can make journeys without the car. All public transport operators will be there offering advice. There will be a Car Free Day Quiz to test your local transport knowledge with prizes from SouthWest Trains, First Southern National and Wilts & Dorset Buses.
On the trains there is the chance to win back the price of your train ticket if you travel to or from Gillingham train station on the day, details and entry forms are at the station. On the buses, why not take advantage of First Southern National’s offer of a return ticket to Gillingham for the price of a single. Overall the Shaftesbury and Gillingham Transport Forum would like to encourage people to try and travel to this event without the car and use an alternative or minimise the number of cars on the road by car sharing.
Poole and Bournemouth Councils are using radio adverts and bus backs to advertise Car Free Fay with the aim to encourage drivers to try out alternative methods of travel on this day.
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Notes to Editors:
For activities at Marconi, contact Angela Pooley on 01202 852000
For activities at Barclays House, contact Elaine Southcott on 01202 403361
For activities at North Dorset District Council, contact Helen Mounsey 01258 484009
Terri Brown, Travel Awareness Officer, tel: (01202) 262051
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