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

MAKING CAR SHARING AND CAR CLUBS WORKCASE STUDY SUMMARIESMarketing and promotion18.25 Most types of marketing and promotion have been used by ourcaryourcar. Hazel has hadarticles in the local press, on local and national radio as well as traditional leaflets, posters,Fundays, and launch meetings. She has attended meetings of most local groups, asking fora short slot to explain about the Club and even walks round Slaithwaite in a T-shirt with an“Ask me about Car Clubs” logo.18.26 The Club has been promoted in local schools, through assemblies and Green TransportWeek activities, harnessing “pester power”.18.27 The Club is also promoted by the local taxi operator, who puts posters in his office windowand postcards promoting the scheme in the waiting area. The operator was sceptical aboutthe Club to begin with, thinking that it would compete for trade. Hazel has been able todemonstrate that car club members use local taxis more often than car owners.18.28 Members promote the scheme by word-of-mouth and this has proved to be very effective.Hazel has noticed a significant time-lag from the initial contact with potential members to thefinal signing up. One recently signed-up member was on the initial contact list drawn up bythe feasibility study team over two years ago. It is not unusual for the time-lag to be between6 months and a year. This might be because car ownership is a long-term commitment, witha high initial investment and relatively low marginal costs. There are key points when a carowner reconsiders his or her car requirements:Existing car is getting old and becoming costly to maintain.Change in employment:oooLeading to the loss of a company car; and/orRemoving the need to commute by car; orLeading to retirement from work, and the need to restructure the householdbudget.Moving house:ooFrom an urban to a rural area, so a second car may need to be considered;and/orFrom a location that requires lots of car use to one that requires far less caruse, or vice versa.Changes in family or household circumstances leading to more or less car use (e.g.when children are born and when they leave home).18.29 At these key times, a car club can offer a realistic alternative to car ownership.18.30 There was some discussion with members and the coordinator about the promotion of carclubs nationally and the need to put the idea into the mainstream. ourcaryourcar has done alot of work locally to promote the Club through the local press and radio. However, memberswere keen to see some kind of national promotion of car clubs and some positive placementin mainstream TV and radio. For example, the introduction of a Wheels to Work Scheme inFinal V1.1, Dec. 2004 - 100 -