Making Car Sharing and Car Clubs Work - Case ... - The Civil Service

More documents

Recommendations

Info

MAKING CAR SHARING AND CAR CLUBS WORKCASE STUDY SUMMARIES18.13 Usage levels for the Club are as follows:5 or more times per week 0 members2-4 times per week 4 membersOnce per week8 members1-3 times per month 8 membersLess than once a month9 members18.14 The Club’s founder members were more interested in the environmental aspects of thescheme, and helped to promote the Club, but this group tends not to use the cars verymuch. At least three of the initial members joined to support the club, but do not use the carsat all. Members who joined later, after the scheme was established, tend to have joined forpersonal financial reasons. For example, they are retired and their car is coming to the endof its life, they have had problems with parking locally, they have changed their work patternand no longer need a car for commuting. Members who have joined for financial reasonstend to use the cars more frequently. Marketing now concentrates on the practical, personalbenefits of car club membership, with existing members talking about how they use the cars.It also stresses the no-hassle element of car club use.18.15 The patterns of usage vary. Some members use the Club’s vehicles for business purposessuch as visiting clients and delivering goods. Others use the Club for those journeys that aremore difficult to make by public transport, such as church attendance, evening social clubs,shopping and visiting relatives. Discussion with users about their travel choices show thatthe hierarchy of travel choice for these car club members is significantly different from carowners: Club members walk wherever possible, use public transport and only book a carclub car or a taxi for awkward journeys or when public transport is not available or suitable.Cycling was not mentioned, although it should be noted that Slaithwaite and Marsden are inthe Pennines.Successes and failures18.16 All of the members and the Coordinator feel that the Club has been a success. Their majorconcern was the short-term funding arrangement to cover the scheme’s overheads andoperating losses.18.17 One early problem was the location of the Zafira. It was parked in a part of Marsdenidentified by the feasibility study as a key area for people likely to be interested in a car club.Despite the car being well located, none of the prospective members materialised, so after afew months it was relocated to Slaithwaite. Slaithwaite members commented on theadvantage of having three types of vehicle available: being able to choose the right vehiclefor the journey is seen as a distinct advantage a car club has over car ownership.18.18 Another key issue was the lack of money for marketing the club. Marketing has always hadto be done on a shoestring, or time has to be spent finding additional financial or in-kindFinal V1.1, Dec. 2004 - 98 -
MAKING CAR SHARING AND CAR CLUBS WORKCASE STUDY SUMMARIESsupport for marketing the scheme. Hazel thought the first set of leaflets to market the Clubwere poor. To overcome this Hazel negotiated in-kind support from Kirklees Council todesign and print new marketing materials.18.19 The Coordinator and the Steering Group have been imaginative in their marketing andpromotion. In particular the Club applied for funding of £2,000 for a schools’ project duringGreen Transport Week. The funding was used to employ local artists to work with schools inSlaithwaite on an arts project related to greener travel options. Hazel Bonner, theCoordinator, attended school assemblies, explaining how car clubs worked and how theyreduced the number of car journeys made by members. This helped to publicise the car cluband encourage local children to think about the impact of their family’s travel on the localenvironment.Supporting measures and alternative approaches considered18.20 The Club has been unable to develop a range of supporting measures, for example publictransport discounts for club members. They have approached Metro, which is not interestedin working with such a small organisation.18.21 Ourcaryourcar has adopted a supportive team approach to membership. Members supportone another during the early stages. They also have social gatherings such as Fundays, andget together for a meal at Christmas. The Club has given newcomers to the area anopportunity to meet other people, and some members share the car club car for somejourneys. There was evidence during the interviews of existing car club members nurturingpotential new members who are considering making the change from car ownership to carclub membership. There appears to be a community development approach to car clubs inSlaithwaite, that has promoted social cohesion. Whilst this may not suit urban areas, itappears to be working here to gradually build up a core of car club members in the area.This aspect is well developed in Slaithwaite, but has not been developed in Marsden yet.Integration with other schemes18.22 The Club is managed by the Penistone Line Partnership and it has been working with theRural Transport Partnership Officer, Travelwise, and the Highways team at Kirklees Council.They have established links with the local taxi operator. Hazel puts a taxi business card inthe Club’s joiners pack and the taxi operator has promotional literature and posters aboutthe Club in his office. Hazel has tried to develop links with bus operators, to persuade themto develop public transport offers for Club members, but this effort has been to no avail.18.23 The Club operates independently and there are currently no reciprocal links with other carclubs. Membership is open to anyone, but cars must always be returned to their base inMarsden or Slaithwaite.18.24 The PLP and the Coordinator are trying to identify options for continuation of funding for theCoordinator’s post. At present they are looking into providing an individualised journeyplanning system, and extending the Club to cover a wider area. They feel there is an urgentneed to identify further funding for the coordination of the scheme as the current level ofusage and membership will not support a Coordinator or meet all operating costs.Final V1.1, Dec. 2004 - 99 -
Page 1:
Department forTransportMaking Car S
Page 4 and 5:
MAKING CAR SHARING AND CAR CLUBS WO
Page 6 and 7:
Page 8 and 9:
Page 10 and 11:
Page 12:
Page 15 and 16:
Page 17:
Page 21 and 22:
Page 23 and 24:
Page 25 and 26:
Page 27 and 28:
Page 29 and 30:
Page 31 and 32:
Page 33 and 34:
Page 35 and 36:
Page 37 and 38:
Page 39 and 40:
Page 41 and 42:
Page 43 and 44:
Page 45 and 46:
Page 47 and 48:
Page 49 and 50:
Page 51 and 52: MAKING CAR SHARING AND CAR CLUBS WO
Page 101: MAKING CAR SHARING AND CAR CLUBS WO
show all

Making Car Sharing and Car Clubs Work - Case ... - The Civil Service

Create successful ePaper yourself

Delete template?

Save as template?