The Trust was recently approached to help spread the word about car sharing service, Liftshare, helping football fans get to games around the UK. Here's all you need to know:
The Football League recently worked out that Charlton Athletic fans will have to travel around 7,000 miles to attend every away game throughout season 15/16. Aware that dedicated fans are spending a lot of money on getting to games each year, the League started looking at new ways to help supporters save cash on matches each week.
That’s why the Football League signed a deal with UK car sharing site Liftshare at the start of the season, and promised to bring a new, affordable way of travelling to games. You might have heard of car sharing before – it’s often called ‘the Airbnb of cars’ – or perhaps the concept is completely new to you.
Either way, car sharing has saved people across Britain save over £60 million since Liftshare launched in 1998, and the Football League wants to pass those savings on to loyal supporters everywhere - whether you own a car or not.
How car sharing can save you thousands a year
Let’s say you plan on driving to a Charlton Athletic match at The Valley or away; you can sign up to Liftshare for free and enter the details of your journey into their ‘Offer a Lift’ calculator, which quickly shows how much you can make by giving a lift to other fans.
After posting your match trip, fellow Charlton fans can get in touch over messaging to accept your spare seats in exchange for petrol money. If you’re happy, you can pick the other supporters up on match day, drive them to the game, and they will pay directly into your bank account using Liftshare’s free Android and iOS mobile app.
You can make up to 100% of your fuel bill by giving lifts to other fans, and by using Liftshare when going to work, gigs, and other places, our members make back up to £2,300 a year on petrol. It’s a great way for Charlton fans to cover their own travel costs while helping get more supporters in both home and away stands each week.
What if you don’t have a car?
You can also use Liftshare to save money if you’re a Charlton fan without a car, simply by requesting lifts to games from the site’s friendly community of over 450,000 members. It’s free to use as a passenger, and safe too – thanks to user authentication, payment detail checks, and more.
To get started, you can either search for lifts using the homepage at Liftshare.com or check out over 500 lifts being offered via Charlton right now by local car owners. If you don’t see a lift you like, you can set up a lift request and alerts to let you know when suitable lifts have been offered.
You’ll find that car sharing as a passenger is always cheaper than paying for trains, and almost consistently cheaper than the likes of taxis and some bus services. You also get to travel with fellow Charlton fans, and enjoy football banter on the way to each game.
How to get the most out of it?
The best way to save the maximum amount of money on Liftshare is to tell other Charlton supporters about it. Do you want to see more fans coming out to away games to show their support each week? Then help get them moving by offering lifts to each other, encourage them to sign up and give it a shot.
Charlton Athletic is involved in this great new way to travel – you can find Liftshare on the official fixtures page here, on the right-hand side – and wants to see fans getting out in force to games this season.