Frequently Asked Questions

BUDi™ (P)(b d): An individual who accompanies another/others in their activities, in order to act in a more sustainable way. A companion who cares for the environment.

Travelling in a pair or a group can often be more fun and better for individuals, the community and the environment. There are several reasons for this:

• It can save you money.
• It can save you time.
• It can reduce local congestion.
• It can encourage you to take some physical activity.
• It can be more sociable.
• It can be safer for you.
• It can help introduce people to each other and reduce social exclusion.

It can reduce our use of the limited fossil fuels.

There are many occasions when travelling in a pair or a group can often be better for individuals, the community and the environment. Some typical examples are below:

• Walking home after dark and feeling safer with others.
• Cycling into work for the first time and wanting someone to show the best way.
• Getting a taxi to the airport and wanting to share the costs.

Driving a car to work and wanting to share the fuel and parking costs.

An individual who shares a car journey with another/others in order to travel in a more sustainable way. A car journey companion.

Carpooling (also called liftsharing, ridesharing and carsharing) is when two or more people share a car and travel together. It allows individuals to benefit from the convenience of the car, whilst reducing the costs and alleviating the associated problems of congestion and pollution.

You can share a car with a CarBUDi on any journey you make - getting to work, doing the weekly shop, taking the children to school, going to the match at the weekend, travelling to a festival, event or show, getting to or from university, visiting friends or getting to the airport.

We suggest that drivers and passengers share the cost of petrol. Please note that drivers should not make a profit from sharing a car as in most countries this can invalidate their insurance and tax. If you have any concerns please contact your insurance company directly. Unfortunately there is currently no government tax allowance for car-sharers. However, we will let our members know if it does become reality!

To see how the service works for individuals please visit the MyBUDi tour.

Another way of getting involved is to set up a car-sharing group for your company, community or arganisation. To find out more please visit www.liftsharesolutions.com, or you can get us to develop one of our Branded Car-sharing Schemes for your company, village, town, service etc.

Tens of thousands of members have had success in finding travelling companions, and our software has been designed to help identify all possible ways of getting you from a to b.

If, however, you're having difficulty in finding a match, we suggest that you look for a travelling companion for part of your journey, and do the rest on public transport.

And remember - the more members we have, the greater the chance of finding an exact match. So make sure you tell your friends about this website, and get them to register their journeys A.S.A.P.

No, your email address is kept hidden and not shown to other members anywhere on the site.

It is completely free to search for travelling companions. However we suggest that drivers and passengers split the cost of each journey, or passengers contribute to the fuel costs. Drivers must not use car-sharing as a means of making a profit.

In most countries insurers state that car pooling will not effect an individuals car insurance. E.g. The Association of British Insurers clearly states that car-sharing won't affect the insurance of their members so long as a profit isn't made:

"Giving Lifts - All ABI motor insurers have agreed that if your passengers contribute towards your running costs your insurance cover will not be affected, as long as lifts are given in a vehicle seating eight passengers or less. This agreement does not apply if you make a profit from payments received or if carrying passengers is your business." (Source: ABI website, 2005)

Drivers with any concerns should check with their insurance company as terms and conditions may vary between insurance providers over time.

If you wish to contact your insurer in relation to your personal policy please view the template letter.

Having selected a suitable travelling match, you should make contact (to agree a time and place to meet) using the message centre on the website. We do not recommend that you exchange home addresses (for security reasons), and we advise all members to meet in public locations such as a train station or bus station, which are easy to get to and away from, should the lift fail.

MyBUDi is solely a travel information service provider and we cannot be held responsible for any journeys that don't work out as planned. Likewise the drivers and passengers who register their journeys with us are under no legal obligation to their travelling companions or to liftshare to make any journeys.

However we hope that if plans change and journeys can't be made, that all affected parties will be contacted and forewarned with appropriate notice. We also suggest that travelling companions arrange to meet at locations close to public transport networks, so that if plans fall through the passengers have the option of using an alternative form of transport to get to their destination on time.

The safety of our members is a priority, and we have made our web-site as secure as we can. All members' details are stored securely in the database and only the members' intended travel information can be accessed on-line.

When it comes to travelling, every member is responsible for his or her own safety. However we do recommend that members' follow some simple security measures outlined below:

• Avoid exchanging home addresses with your travelling companion before you meet them.
• Arrange to meet in a public place.
• Inform a friend or family member of who you will be travelling with, when and to where.
• Make sure you show each other your I.D.s - passports, student cards or driving licences - so you know you're travelling with the right person.
• You are under no obligation to go ahead with any liftshare. If you have any doubts about your travelling companion, for any reason, you should avoid travelling with them.
• If you have any problems please call us immediately on (+44) (0)1953 451166 and we will endeavour help in any way that we can.
• It is your responsibility to check that the person you are sharing with has all the legal driving documents such as driving licence, car insurance, MOT and car tax.

For more information about safety and security of personal information please read Terms and Conditions and the Privacy Policy

Yes, through our advanced search you can select male or female matches.

We recommend that you meet your travelling companions at a public place, close to public transport networks if possible so that alternative transport options are available should the lift fall through. We advise members not to meet at a home address for security reasons.

To cancel your membership, please login to your account and click on the My Settings page and select 'Please remove my details'. All your details will be removed from the database immediately.

To edit any of your personal details such as your default e-mail address or password, please click on My Settings. Your can amend your details as necessary, and the records in our database will be updated automatically. Any new details will also be e-mailed through to you for your records.

A Private Restricted Group is a group that has been created especially for a certain group/organisation/business park etc for people to join securely. These groups are restricted by either email addresses, IP addresses or a Passcode. Being part of a Private Restricted Group means that your initial search for a match will check for other members of the same restricted group. Being part of a Restricted Group may also mean that you are added to a Public Group, but this will be for monitoring purposes only. Your journeys will only be shown to people in the same group as you unless you choose otherwise.

A Public Group is a group that is available for anyone to join with no restriction. These are often regional schemes such as CarshareDevon.com which are available to all in the area to utilize for free.

Your account may have been added to a Public group for various reasons. It may be that the restriction email address or passcode entered did not match that of the Private Restricted Group you were attempting to join. Your Private Restricted Group may interlink with a Public group, which simply means that your Private Restricted Group was set up under the umbrella of another group to give you more search options should you need them, you will not be contacted by others in this non-restricted group unless you widen your journey search details. Also, it will benefit you should the Public Group offer any incentives/competitions etc. You may have left the organisation that you originally joined up with and having left that company, the Car Share Manager of that scheme may have removed you from their group, automatically leaving your details on the National System.