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

MAKING CAR SHARING AND CAR CLUBS WORKCASE STUDY SUMMARIESReduced expenditure on travel overall.No worries about on-street parking, no arguments with neighbours and no damage toyour car.18.43 These members already understood and supported the thinking behind car clubs, and wereconcerned about local congestion and environmental issues. Despite this, the prospect ofnot having access to a car, was the major barrier to giving up their second car or their onlyhousehold car. The availability of the car club has allowed them to make the change andreduce their car mileage overall.18.44 The problems that members had with the Club were seen as minor. Two of the intervieweeshad experienced some difficulties with the in-car technology and the internet when they firstjoined, in particular, failing to log off correctly and problems accessing the web-based Drive-IT booking system. One family has members with an allergy to dogs and cats and would likeeither a ban on dogs in the cars or that dogs can only be carried if they sit on a blanket thatshould be removed by the owner at the end of the journey. This family has had to valet thecar on several occasions when they have used the car after one particular dog owner.18.45 Club members were concerned that the target for financial viability in 2005 was unrealistic,especially when they compared it with the slow growth experienced by rural car clubs inother parts of Europe. The development in Colne Valley has been heavily dependent on theenthusiasm and skills of the local Coordinator, supported by active Club members. It wouldbe unrealistic to expect an individual volunteer or group of volunteers to undertake theworkload or to have the necessary skills mix to undertake the Coordinator’s role.18.46 One member put forward the view that in rural areas the public transport system was oftenpoor or non-existent in the evenings and on Sundays and that services at these times wereheavily subsidised by the local authority. Subsidising the development and running of a carclub in these areas could be cost-effective, as car club members make more use of existingpublic transport and local people would not necessarily have to own a car just to makeevening and weekend journeys and those journeys that require interchange.Other general issues18.47 One user raised the issue of using a car club car for work-related evening meetings. Thisuser would like to be able to reclaim the cost from the NHS, his employer, but no mechanismexists for him to do this at present. This family also raised the point that if governmentfundedbodies used car club cars as pool cars, this could increase utilisation of the vehiclesand make them more commercially viable in rural areas. Options put forward for increasingusage were for social services staff and for the cars to be used as voluntary car schemevehicles taking patients to GP surgeries.18.48 Cultural attachment to cars was also raised as an issue, with examples of local residentswho did not use their car very often, but felt the need to have a high-value car that reflectedthere status. There was some discussion about whether some car clubs, particularly those inurban areas, would attract more members if some high-status cars were included in the fleet,or whether the cost would act as a deterrent.Final V1.1, Dec. 2004 - 105 -