The Liftshare story…

1996

Ali Clabburn – a student at Bristol University – realised he didn’t have enough money for the train fare back to Norfolk. Convinced there must be others driving in a similar direction, he pinned a message on a student notice board, asking if anyone could give him a lift. The next day, he returned to find three offers of a ride home – and so the idea of Liftshare was born!

1998

Determined to start a transport revolution in the UK, and help people overcome the increasingly prohibitive cost of travel. With the support of a handful of friends, Ali set up his first office in the spare room of his parent’s home.

2000

We launch Liftshare for Business. We start building branded websites for organisations to help fund the consumer side of the business. South Gloucester Council is the first organisation to sign up.

2002

Liftshare wins a Business in the Community Big Tick Award for Excellence in Environmental Performance.

2003

We welcome our 100,000th member, our car-sharing family continues to grow.

2004

Liftshare’s client list grows from annual events like Isle of Wight Festival and corporate clients to include Tesco, Rolls Royce and the BBC. Our CEO, Ali Clabburn, is awarded the Daily Mail Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award, and Liftshare wins the BUPA Commitment to the Community Award.

2005

Liftshare wins the Transport Planner of the Year Award, awarded by the Travel Planning Society (TSP).

2007

Liftshare celebrates its 10th birthday.

2007 is another award winning year, with Liftsharing winning at the BCE environmental leadership awards, receiving the Kycera Greenlight environment award and also winning the Business Commitment to the Environment Award.

2008

Liftshare is awarded a prestigious Queen’s Award for Innovation.

Alongside this, Liftshare wins the UK Catalyst Award for best Social Enterprise at the Chancellor awards, the Frost & Sullivan 'UK Mobility Service Green Excellence Award for Service Achievement', the Green Travel - 'Eco Tourism' category Award and the RTPI / TPS Transport Planning Network Award – what a year!

myPTP was built and launched. The myPTP tool is the only journey planner in the UK that gives you public transport, walking and cycling results AS WELL AS car sharing matches in one place to be able to make an informed, yet independent decision on how you can best travel to your place of work.

2009

It’s a busy year for awards ceremonies with Liftshare winning: Marketing Campaign of the Year from ACT Travelwise, The IHT environmental award, Nectar Contribution to the Community Award at the Nectar Awards and Outstanding Achievement Award at the Low CVP Awards.

2010

Liftshare wins the Catalyst Award at the Low Carbon Champion Awards.

2011

Liftshare is nominated for the Sustainable Energy Europe Award - Best Travel Project at the European Commission Awards and wins!

2012

Liftshare wins the Ashden Award for sustainable travel and the award for Outstanding IT at the EDP Awards.

2013

The team expands, we outgrow our office and move to the heart of Norwich.

myPTP is the first ever planning tool to integrate data for all modes of transport (walking, bus, park and ride, train and car-sharing) at the click of a button. Not only that, Liftshare wins the Environment and Sustainability Award and the Outstanding IT initiative Award at the EDP Business Awards. In 2013, Liftshare is also featured in the Future 50 companies.

2014

Liftshare launches the Liftshare Companion App, and app which enables members to communicate easily.

Liftshare wins the Environment and Sustainability Award at the EDP Business Awards and are the 'Fit for work tournament winners'.

2015

Car-sharing has financial savings for all – Jaguar Land Rover is our first business to save in excess of £1 million through its corporate car-sharing scheme.

The Liftshare Companion App is recognised as best in class for corporate digital communications and wins the 'Best Use of Mobile and Portable Devices' and 'Best use of Digital' in the Travel & leisure sector at the Digital Impact Awards. The App also wins Liftshare the Award for Mobile and Applications at the Lovie Awards this same year! This year, Liftshare sets up a partnership with Stagecoach to improve the overall approach to travel planning and deliver a full travel solution to corporate clients.

2016

A huge year for Liftshare! After amazing growth, in its 18th year, Liftshare celebrate having 700 corporate clients using the Liftshare platform. CEO, Ali, wins the Eco Hero Award at the Norfolk and Norwich Eco Awards, whilst Liftshare wins a further 3 awards: The Eco small business at the Norwich and Norfolk Eco Awards; The DRUM MOMA AWARD for the Best mobile/tablet customer facing app; and the Best Intellectual Property Development at the MAA awards.

For the first time myPTP becomes a consumer facing travel planning tool. Essex County Council is the first organisation to test this approach, to change the travel behaviours of residents of new housing developments.

Another milestone, Liftshare launches its new platform, and starts moving its clients over from the classic system to the new Dashboard.

In 2016, a new product is launched a for its clients: Parking Permits. This new product enables Liftshare’s clients running dedicated carshare bays an automated process. Members can download a permit for their Liftshare team which they can print and display in their vehicle.

In August, Liftshare celebrates its 18th birthday, with CEO, Ali, hosting a fantastic circus themed party at his home!

2017

In 2017, Liftshare becomes a member of MAAS Scotland AND we hit the 500 million miles marker in that we have taken off 500 million miles off the roads since launching in 1998.

Another new product is released for Liftshare’s clients: Trip Authentication. This product allows Liftshare’s clients to see who is validating their journey daily using the Liftshare Companion App.

Scoping Smart Mobility is also added to Liftshare’s suite of products. The Scoping Smart Mobility tool generates a list of multiple travel options each employee of a business could use to get to their place of work, and therefore helps businesses solve their mobility problems at scale.

Before the year is up, Liftshare starts working with other local businesses and enterprises to launch #NorwichSharingCity.

Just before Christmas, the team jet of to Amsterdam, Europe’s first sharing city, to see how the Dutch do it!

2018

On the 20th Anniversary of Liftshare, Liftshare decided to update their branding, including the new strapline of 'Travel happy', encompassing their beliefs and mission.

With the help of implementing a successful Liftshare scheme, Prologis Green Travel reaches milestone saving stats of 543 tonnes of CO2 saved, 2.7 million miles taken off UK roads and collectively saving their employees over £300,000!

Liftshare has a double win at the Smart Travel Awards collecting the ‘Best Shared Transport Project Award’ for their travel-planning product, myPTP, and the ‘Best Behaviour Change Campaign Award’ for their work with Jaguar Land Rover Liftshare.

In the same year Liftshare was recognised as a fantastic place to work. Liftshare received ‘Best Employer: Platinum accreditation’ from the Best Employers Eastern Region scheme, were awarded Employer of the Year (Eastern Region) by The British Chamber of Commerce and came second in the Nationals!

Liftshare *Smart Parking *launches! Smart Parking enables organisations to efficiently manage their car park, provide priority parking to those who are sharing and allows organisations to reward those that do. Smart Parking also enables organisations to monitor any abuse of the dedicated Liftshare parking bays that are implemented.

2019

The Digital Agenda Awards promotes 'Technology for Good' campaigns and businesses, and this year recognised Liftshare for their efforts in the 'Sharing Economy'.

The Liftshare Scoping Smart Mobility Tool wins the Intelligent Parking Award at the British Parking Awards.

Liftshare are invited to meet the Queen to recognise their efforts in sustainability and are awarded the Queen's Award for Enterprise in Sustainable Development.

2020

Liftshare completely redesigned and rebuilt the member experience, read more here.

COVID-19 meant a national lockdown in the UK in March 2020, car-sharing was still available for those that needed it, as long as they followed the Liftshare COVID-19 guidelines.

Liftshare launched their sister brand Mobilityways

2021

Liftshare update their mission to make
Zero Carbon Commuting a reality.