Environmentalists declared a campaign to get residents to carpool got off to “a good start” yesterday.Abbie Goodwin-Caldas and Zoë Kempe had encouraged motorists to use public transportation, pedal bike or ride to work with others.Their efforts were part of a global campaign called Moving Planet, aimed at cutting down on the use of fossil fuels.Yesterday’s traffic appeared to be lighter, and more people were seen riding bicycles, the pair said.“We still noticed that a lot of people are driving alone, but there seemed to be fewer cars on the road, so I think people are carpooling,” Ms Goodwin-Caldas said.“We also saw a lot more bicycles today than last week.”Around 150 countries took part in the international rally.While the focus of the campaign is environmental, Ms Goodwin-Caldas and Ms Kempe said carpooling also makes social and economic sense.“Bermuda is set up in a way that people either live in the East or the West and they work in the middle, for the most part,” Ms Goodwin-Caldas said.“We can go to our neighbours and ride in together. Then you’re sitting together and you’re talking together. It’s building that connection, building that community.“It also saves money on petrol.”Looking at the number of vehicles carrying only one person, Ms Goodwin-Caldas said that it goes to show how much can be achieved on the Island.With more than 2,300 vehicles per square mile, Bermuda has one of the densest concentrations of motor vehicle traffic in the world.A survey last week found that 85 percent of 4,200 vehicles recorded travelling along East Broadway had only one person inside.“A friend suggested that part of the issue is that we can afford larger cars, we can afford the gas but just because we can do something doesn’t mean that we should,” Ms Goodwin-Caldas said.Ms Kempe said that they have already been contacted by several people interested in getting involved next year.“We have a lot of ideas for what to do next year,” she said. “We think that this is something that can grow and be very successful in Bermuda.”Useful websites: www.moving-planet.org, www.350.org.