Do you ever make a journey with empty seats in your car? Do you care about making Pembrokeshire a friendlier, better connected place to live?
A local community transport charity is looking for 500 drivers to join its new community lift sharing network, Take Me Too!, which is set to launch in Pembrokeshire this summer.
This exciting new project will allow drivers to offer spare seats in their car in return for a contribution towards expenses and the “feel good factor” of helping people in their community who would otherwise struggle to make their journey. Sharing journeys is also a greener way to travel, so you’ll be doing the planet a favour too!
Take Me Too! is run by local community transport charity PACTO (Pembrokeshire Association of Community Transport Organisations) with £311,000 funding over five years from The National Lottery Community Fund. PACTO has been partnering with local tech company Writemedia to develop the software for this new service.
Debbie Johnson from PACTO said “It’s simple and free to sign up – just go to www.takemetoo.org.uk. Anyone aged 18 or over who lives in Pembrokeshire or regularly travels in or around the county is welcome. Once you’ve signed up, we’ll contact you if we receive a journey request that we think you might be able to help with. We won’t expect you to make a special trip, but if you’re going that way anyway you might like to offer a lift.”
The first 100 drivers to sign up will receive a free Take Me Too! water bottle and goodie pack.
Take Me Too! is now open for drivers to sign up. The full lift-matching service will be launching later this summer.
Margaret Vickery, one of PACTO’s trustees said "we hope this project will enable us to meet transport needs which we have found difficult to address through more traditional public and community transport services. Loneliness and lack of access to services is a very real issue in rural Pembrokeshire, and the cost of transport can be a huge barrier. Take Me Too! will match people who need a lift with someone else who is going their way – it’s a new kind of community transport for rural communities of today".
For more information about Take Me Too! please visit www.takemetoo.org.uk or contact 01437 775033.
PACTO (Pembrokeshire Association of Community Transport Organisations) was established in 2004, to bring together, strengthen and represent the community transport sector in Pembrokeshire. We are a registered charity and a company limited by guarantee.
Community Transport services help people and groups who don't have access to their own transport and who don't have or can't use conventional public transport services.
For more information about PACTO please visit www.pacto.org.uk
The National Lottery Community Fund is the largest community funder in the UK – we’re proud to award money raised by National Lottery players to communities across England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. Since June 2004, we have made over 200,000 grants and awarded over £9 billion to projects that have benefited millions of people.
We are passionate about funding great ideas that matter to communities and make a difference to people’s lives. At the heart of everything we do is the belief that when people are in the lead, communities thrive. Thanks to the support of National Lottery players, our funding is open to everyone. We’re privileged to be able to work with the smallest of local groups right up to UK-wide charities, enabling people and communities to bring their ambitions to life.
