Shore language school pupils learn benefits of sharing transport

Engin Yenidogan.

New migrants at a North Shore language school are setting an impressive example for fellow Aucklanders to start car-pooling.

Chang Hae Sun enjoys saving petrol and strengthening her friendship with fellow Korean students Sun-Bok Park and Young Hee Ha, while the three share rides from their homes in Albany and beyond to classes at DynaSpeak, a subsidiary of Te Wananga o Aotearoa on the Rosedale industrial estate.

But she also acknowledges an element of compulsion, as lead tutor Engin Yenidogan will not let his students park on the campus unless they car-pool. "There is not enough space for all our cars," she said yesterday, about his hardline policy.

Mr Yenidogan says about 120 of the school's 400-or-so students share rides and about 100 others catch buses, cycle or walk.

He said that as soon as he receives enrolments from students, he classifies them according to where they live and invites them to organise into groups of at least three to share rides, unless there are extenuating circumstances, to qualify for off-road parking.

Establishing a car-pooling scheme was a condition of the school's resource consent, given council concern about the pressure its students would put on the crowded Rosedale estate.

North Harbour Business Association transport projects manager Brigid Rogers said Mr Yenidogan and the language school had more than met that commitment.

"We have examples of other companies just ticking the box, because nobody from the council ever checks," said Ms Rogers.

Her organisation has more than 400 registrants on its Let's Carpool website, which it supports by offering a guarantee of taxi rides home to any participants who might become stranded if their drivers became unavailable. Mathew Dearnaley