Rideshare (Liftango)

Ridesharing, or carpooling, is the sharing of car trips between drivers and passengers to reduce the number of cars on the road and an excellent option for students and staff travelling to campus.

The University of Newcastle has partnered with Liftango, an exclusive ridesharing app, to make your trip to and from campus as hassle-free as possible!

  • Get FREE parking in exclusive parking spaces
  • Send private ride requests so you can carpool with your mates or colleagues
  • Reduce your carbon footprint by taking cars off the road
  • Work to your own schedule
  • Meet new people and make new friends on campus
  • In partnership with Panchama, all trips will be offset when you carpool with the Liftango app
Colourful illustration of people in a car amongst a garden with buildings in the background

Private Rides

Want to carpool with a friend or colleague? With the Liftango carpool app, you can guarantee a private ride with your friends! Just send through a private ride request to your mate and you’ll be able to pick them up before class and score a free car park—winning at life, right?

Reducing your footprint even further

Climate-Positive action involves removing more emissions from the atmosphere than are created—therefore having an overall positive impact on the climate.

Liftango has partnered with Pachama to offset the emissions of every trip made by drivers and passengers using their carpool technology. At no extra cost to carpool users, Liftango will offset more carbon than users create each month.

Get the App

Get your journey started in just three easy steps:

  1. Download the free Liftango app from the Apple App Store or Google Play
  2. Sign up with your student or staff email address and password
  3. Enter your ride requirements and start sharing!

Once your profile is set up, the app will find the best driver/rider match to fit your needs. When the match is accepted, the app provides drivers with the directions to their rider/s and riders will be able to see how far away their driver is.

I want to know about...

How many riders do I have to bring to use the rideshare parking spots?

You are required to bring at least one passenger with you to be eligible to use the rideshare bays. This passenger has to have accepted a matched trip with the driver from their arranged pick-up location in order for the trip to be matched.

How do I use the Liftango app?

Once you’ve downloaded the Liftango app, you will need to create a simple Driver profile. This includes:

  • Your car registration number
  • An image of your car and car details

Then, when you're ready to book a trip, put in the times you are going to be travelling to and from the Uni Liftango will match you with a Rider and you can choose to accept or decline. If you accept, the app will use Google Maps to guide you to your Rider’s pick-up location. You can also send a private ride request to a friend or colleague through the app.

Is the Liftango app safe?

Your safety is our number one priority.

To ensure you are safe and secure, the Liftango app is only accessible within the trusted network of University of Newcastle students and staff. To use the app you must be a current enrolled student or current staff member. Keep in mind that you can also arrange private rides through the Liftango app and invite your friends to ride into the Uni with you.

Is my vehicle insurance affected by ridesharing?

Not at all. Using the Liftango app is no different than driving a friend or a colleague to work, dinner or anywhere else you might normally share a ride.

Do I have to rideshare every day?

You can rideshare as much or as little as you want. All you need to do is load up the times and dates you want to rideshare into the app.

What happens if I need to cancel my trip?

If you need to, you can easily cancel a trip request at any time before you are matched. If you’ve already been matched and you need to cancel, it’s best to be respectful to your rider and do so as early as possible through the app. If you cancel a trip after you are matched, you will not be able to reschedule.

If you don’t want to cancel, but you need to adjust plans slightly, we encourage you to reach out to your rider/s to see if they might be able to accommodate you.

Please be aware that frequent cancellations may mean that limitations are placed on your ability to use the Rideshare car park spots or may lessen your chance of getting a ride to the University.

I live in a share house and there maybe more than me that need a ride, can I travel with more than one?

Yes, you can! Just enter the number of passengers in the app when you create the trip.

Do I have to pay the driver?

This is completely up to you and the driver. The regulations around ride sharing state that the costs of petrol, parking and reasonable wear and tear may be shared.

Liftango provides the means to find and organise ridesharing between drivers and riders and takes no part in setting prices or helping money change hands.

What happens if I get stuck without a ride home?

It’s always best to arrange your ride home in advance and make sure you have a plan b. If your ride share home is cancelled and you are left without options, Liftango will make sure you have a ride home. Just contact Liftango and they will arrange a safe lift home for you.

Can I rideshare one-way?

If it suits you better to only rideshare with Liftango in the morning and get another way home or vice versa, you can customise your trip. Ridesharing to the University is flexible and completely up to you.

Do I have to rideshare every day?

You can rideshare as much or as little as you want. All you need to do is load up the times and dates you want to rideshare into the app.

What happens if I need to cancel my trip?

If you need to, you can easily cancel a trip request at any time before you are matched. If you’ve already been matched and you need to cancel, it’s best to be respectful to your driver and do so as early as possible through the app. If you cancel a trip after you are matched, you will not be able to reschedule.

If you don’t want to cancel, but you need to adjust plans slightly, we encourage you to reach out to your driver to see if they might be able to accommodate you.

Please be aware that frequent cancellations may mean that limitations are placed on your ability to use the Rideshare car park spots or may lessen your chance of getting a ride to the University.

How do the exclusive Rideshare allocated parking spaces work?

The University has set aside a number of parking spaces in which only drivers who have picked up riders through the Liftango app can park. When you accept a ride share match as a driver, you will be notified within the app that you are eligible to park in a ride share parking spot.

What happens if there are no parks available?

The Liftango app will notify all drivers when all the Rideshare car park bays have been allocated. When this occurs, drivers will have to park in General Parking.

How does the University ensure that only Rideshare users park in the allocated Rideshare car park spots?

Liftango provides data to the Parking Infringement Officers to enforce the use of the Rideshare parking spots. The officers can see in real-time which car registrations and riders have used Liftango each day. Make sure you have a matched trip message before you park in a rideshare bay - look out for the Success! message from Liftango.

Any cars parked in the allocated Rideshare parking spots that have not picked up riders will be issued a parking infringement notice in line with the University Traffic and Parking Rules.

How is privacy of the drivers and riders protected?

Your privacy is important and we've made every effort to protect your personal privacy while also providing sufficient information to allow rideshare matches. Only your email address, car registration, make and model are saved when you sign up for Liftango and create a profile as a Driver. This is to identify that you are part of the University community and ensure that Rideshare parking spots are only used by those who are actually ridesharing.

Is the Liftango app safe?

Your safety is our number one priority. To ensure you are safe and secure, the Liftango app is only accessible within the trusted network of University of Newcastle students and staff. To use the app you must be a current enrolled student or current staff member.

Having trouble?

For technical issues or app feedback contact Liftango.

If you would like more information on ridesharing to our campuses, please contact the Infrastructure and Facilities Customer Support team: