"In carpooling, you may have to make some concessions and it requires everyone's flexibility and planning, but once you get it started, it's not so tedious"
Carpooling is social togetherness and a real climate change
The city of Äänekoski encourages its staff and citizens to use public transport, carpooling and other sustainable ways of moving whenever possible. One of the main goals of Äänekoski's city strategy is a sustainable environment, and Äänekoski aims to be carbon neutral by 2030.
One carpooling team from City Hall: information management expert Sakari Niemelä, environmental inspector Jatta Heikkinen, environmental manager Hanna Ahonen and environmental coordinator Juho Liimatainen.
- Road traffic emissions are the biggest factor that consumes the climate and the environment, and especially private cars are also the most significant source of emissions here in Äänekoski. Even a single citizen can have a significant impact on reducing the environmental burden by paying attention to the choices of movement, environment manager Hanna Ahonen says.
Folding driving trips in the same direction together with, for example, a work or hobby group is an impressive climate action that increases community participation. Carpools are especially suitable if you live outside the public transport area.
During the green renewable Äänekoski project, the city joined the Kimppakyyti mobile service (formerly BiggyBaggy), which can be found at www.kimppakyydit.com . Through it, you can search for, arrange and make carpools with other people moving in the same direction easily and also safely, because the use of the service requires identification. The service is especially suitable for daily or weekly trips, such as for work or hobbies, but also for longer trips, for example to Helsinki, if necessary.
Carpooling is about sharing common experiences
Äänekoski city personnel have their own informal WhatsApp groups where they agree on joint work trips with colleagues. In addition, there are plenty of other carpooling groups on the internet and social media that anyone can take advantage of.
The environmental manager working at the town hall has set up his own WhatsApp group and carpooling group Hanna Ahonen, environmental inspector Jatta Heikkinen, climate coordinator Juho Liimatainen, information management expert Sakari Niemelä and the group also includes a few other employees living in Jyväskylä. Almost every day work trips can be arranged with shared rides and the driving shift changes evenly among everyone.
- We also usually always carpool to environmental field visits and building inspections, as well as to the units' work well-being days, Hanna Ahonen says.
For everyone in this ride circle, the biggest motive for carpooling is to reduce the burden on the environment, but also to save fuel and money. In addition, carpooling offers social time together and you also have time to talk about work matters.
- Surprising information can come out when discussing work matters between different units, says Sakari Niemelä.
In addition, new employees have gotten to know their new colleagues better thanks to shared rides.
- One important motive for carpooling is related to this social interaction, says Juho Liimatainen, who recently started as a new employee.
- Carpools are very suitable for busy office working hours, Niemelä reminds. The Kimppakyt people also sometimes have a remote work day, which is also ecological.
- The most time and effort is actually taken when taking the local bus to the center of Jyväskylä first, says Jatta Heikkinen.
- In carpooling, you may have to make some concessions and it requires flexibility and planning from everyone, but once you get it started, it's not so tiring, Ahonen thinks.
Sometimes sleeping in a bomb in the morning or the car suddenly breaking down has brought a bit of a stir to the group's work trips, but they have also been overcome with humor, flexibility and using more than one car if necessary.
- We can warmly recommend carpooling to others! You can also join our group if you commute to Äänekoski from Jyväskylä, Ahonen advises.
Ball forward!
The carpoolers in the city of Äänekoski are challenging all employees in the city to try carpooling with a co-worker even on one working day. Will the crowd rise to the challenge?
The city of Äänekoski participates in the communication campaign of Central Finland's climate week by publishing a series of information on the climate actions of the city of Äänekoski on October 10-14.10.2022, XNUMX. The city of Äänekoski also wants to challenge its personnel, residents, companies and other parties to joint climate talks. A sustainable environment is also one of the most important goals in Äänekoski's city strategy.
For more information:
Environmental manager Hanna Ahonen, 0400 893 683, hanna.ahonen@aanekoski.fi
News published 12.10.2022