UWinnipeg’s Campus Sustainability Office has teamed up with GoManitoba, a brand new ride matching service, to help the University community get to class and work in a more sustainable way. GoManitoba helps connect drivers, bus-riders, bikers, and walkers with like-minded commuters through its website and mobile app for iOS and Android devices.
The online tools allows students, faculty, and staff members to log their daily travels and keep track of how much gasoline, money, and greenhouse gas emissions they’ve saved through the program — doing so will also give users the chance to win prizes.
Follow this link to register: http://bit.ly/2gogfWc
“GoManitoba is going to give UWinnipeg a big leg up as we work to reduce emissions in-line with the goals of our new institutional Sustainability Strategy,” said Joseph Wasylycia-Leis, UWinnipeg Campus Sustainability Office Coordinator. “The program is helping us get cars off the road by connecting staff, faculty and students who are looking to carpool, use public transit, or cycle together on their way to and from campus.”
One of the four overarching goals of UWinnipeg’s new Sustainability Strategy, which was released last month, is to exceed Canada’s commitments under the Paris Accord through direct and indirect greenhouse gas emission reduction, among other things.
According to a 2015 UWinnipeg Communting Survey, the majority of students, faculty, and staff use public transit to get to campus, while driving is the second most popular choice. The same survey shows that only 11.5 per cent of students and 14.7 per cent of faculty and staff choose to carpool. Across the province, less than 20 per cent of Manitobans commute in healthy, sustainable ways.
Data from the 2015 UWinnipeg Commuting Survey.
Wasylycia-Leis hopes to see those numbers rise once more people in the University community start using the program.
“Everyone on campus has a role to play when it comes to sustainability and GoManitoba is an innovative platform that will enable us to burn less fuel by helping each other on our daily commutes,” he said. “It’s important that we get as many people signed up as possible because the success of the service requires that lots of people use it on a regular basis.”
By registering at the UWinnipeg GoManitoba portal, users can connect with other people on campus. Users can then set the route for their daily commute, choose their preferred mode of transportation, and decide if they’d like to be a passenger or a driver. GoManitoba’s interactive map identifies matches based on preferences, schedules, and similar routes. If there is a match, users can contact one another via email.
As safety precautions, GoManitoba only reveals users’ first names on the website and app, and recommends meeting with potential matches in a public place before commuting with them.
For more information about how to use GoManitoba go to: greenactioncentre.ca/healthy-travel/gomanitoba-how-to-guide/
Background
Presented by the Green Action Centre, GoManitoba is a province-wide ride matching service with the goal of bringing sustainable, healthy commuting options to all Manitobans. Its purpose is to ease travel by helping to facilitate carpools, promote public transit use where available, and match bike and transit mentors. It is a quick, secure, and personal way to find your commuting options, simply by imputing your route start and destination info. Users can track their daily/regular commutes or one-time trips to find matches.
