Ali Clabburn
Giving a lift to the environment
Thirty-year-old Ali Clabburn set up his innovative car-sharing scheme while he was in his final year of university. His aim is to help alleviate congestion and pollution in the UK, while offering the chance to save money on fuel bills. He explains his socially-aware approach.
What gave you the idea for Liftshare?
I first saw car sharing in action when I was travelling through Germany on my gap year. I discovered a network of car-sharing bureaux at major train stations that provided a cheaper way of getting around than the train or bus.
I immediately saw the benefits and on my return to England, I tried to find a similar scheme, but there weren't any. I was amazed; it seemed such a simple solution to overcome not just costly travel, but congestion and pollution as well.
Like many students, I travelled frequently between my home town, Norwich, and my university town, Bristol. The train was so expensive, and I knew that someone must be making the same journey in a car who would really appreciate being able to share the costs. I realised it was a whole market that no one was servicing.
What were you doing at the time you had the idea?
I was studying at Bristol university.
What was the first thing you did to try and make the idea happen?
During my second year at uni, I took my first steps towards setting up Liftshare. I talked to friends, family and advisors, and found ways of piloting the idea without spending any money, as it was something I didn't have!
Around this time the internet was beginning to take off, and I saw its potential; I knew we couldn't copy the German model of liftsharing – opening up offices at railway stations would have meant a high investment for no guaranteed return – but the internet meant we could set the scheme up virtually for free.
Who helped you, and how?
I had lots of friends who believed in my idea and were willing to help out: a computer scientist friend built the initial website as a project for part of his university course; someone produced marketing materials for free; and a small band of friends helped me launch Liftshare at six Freshers' Fairs throughout the country, including Bristol.
What obstacles did you encounter along the way?
At the first Freshers' Fair, we charged people £10 first thing in the morning to join the scheme. By lunchtime we were charging £5, and by the end of the day we were offering it for free. Students loved the idea but they didn't want to part with a tenner.
Lots of people signed up, but I was left with one important question: how do I make money from this? And I desperately needed more money for development. I applied for government funding, but didn't get anywhere.
I had a job in a post office where I worked from 4am until lunchtime, then worked on Liftshare in the afternoon. Two work experience students built the next version of the website and the following year they promoted it at more Freshers' Fairs. Lots more people joined – but I still had no income.
When did the idea start looking viable?
In 1999, Glastonbury Festival got in touch with me. Thousands of people descend on Glastonbury every summer for the festival, and it was causing huge congestion on the local roads. The organisers asked us to build them a branded car-share website so people travelling to the festival could share lifts.
It was a huge success and has saved an estimated 15,000 car journeys to the festival each year. It was also a breakthrough for Liftshare; it showed how it could make money and highlighted the importance of finding people with a common link.
This has served as the basis of our business model: allowing the public to sign up free to the national car-sharing scheme, while earning revenue from clients who pay a one-off sum plus a regular licence fee for setting up a scheme for their employees or customers.
Word began to spread and we continued to develop the software and fine tune our business plan. In 2000 we won our first big commercial contract, providing a liftshare scheme for a group of businesses in South Gloucestershire.
Our organisation has now grown substantially, and we work with almost 600 clients across the UK, including local authorities, hospitals, universities, schools and communities, building branded and private car-share schemes.
Future plans for the idea?
We want to be providing effective and efficient mobility for all. It's about much more than just car-sharing. It's about providing cost-effective and sustainable solutions to travel issues.
Liftshare has driven car-sharing up the Government's agenda. It feels like every day momentum is gathering – three years ago, car-sharing wasn't a transport option, or talked about as part of a transport policy.
I'd go to conferences and listen to people talk about spending billions on buses and trains when there were millions of empty seats in cars on UK roads. Now car-sharing is up there among the top two or three issues. And that's down to what we're doing – we made the case of it and made it happen.
Advice to anyone else who wants to make their idea happen?
You have to have passion. We're passionate about what we do and totally believe in it. We've never focused on the financial reward. That came because we believed in the product. If you're doing something that makes you happy, then it doesn't matter if you don't make money. You learn something every day and you enjoy doing it.