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

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MAKING CAR SHARING AND CAR CLUBS WORKCASE STUDY SUMMARIESpay and display car park. This was resisted by the town council who felt that localresidents, many of whom don’t have private parking themselves, would feel resentful.Moorcar was, however, offered two spaces at a nearby sheltered housing development,where car parking was underutilised. This area is occasionally prone to illegal parkingby tourists, although the local traffic warden is sympathetic towards Moorcar if thisoccurs and car club vehicles are temporarily parked in adjacent areas.The social profile of the three towns covered by Moorcar – Ashburton, Totnes andBuckfastleigh – are slightly different. Buckfastleigh, in particular, has relatively highlevels of social deprivation. Jeremy Farr approached the Sure Start project in this town,hoping to reach (single) parents with no/limited car access. It was a wasted effort, asSure Start appeared to be going through a period of internal difficulties. However,Jeremy has since found a sympathetic ear within another parent support organisation,and has come to appreciate that both timing, and finding the right contact, are crucial insecuring the interest of potential car club member groups.Supporting Measures / Alternative Approaches Considered19.12 Below is a summary of the supporting services offered to Moorcar members, that are notmentioned elsewhere.Nationwide breakdown and recovery service.Access to a local members-only ride-share scheme either as a driver (to share the costof the hire) or as a passenger. Either Moorcar vehicles or members’ own cars can beused for this scheme.Integration with Other Schemes19.13 Jeremy Farr networks with other car club coordinators, particularly those based in ruralareas and those in the south-west of England. Discussions are underway among south-westcar clubs to secure agreement on allowing members to access any of these clubs’ vehicles.Marketing and Promotion19.14 Moorcar is being promoted as a local community resource. Publicity material features thetowns it serves, nestled in the valleys surrounding Dartmoor, and states: ‘It’s not commercialcar hire, these are community-owned cars, so all the benefits of cost-savings, flexibility andfreedom to get about, go straight where they’re needed – the local community’. The ways inwhich the car club has been promoted include the following.Word of mouth.Much reduced/subsidised annual membership fees for the initial eighteen months, orso.Colourful simple-to-understand leaflets, that focus on the benefits of car clubmembership for the individual and the local community, and not the negatives of privatecar ownership and use.A good website www.moorcar.co.ukFinal V1.1, Dec. 2004 - 112 -
MAKING CAR SHARING AND CAR CLUBS WORKCASE STUDY SUMMARIESA logo that reflects the local area and terrain (the ‘M’ in Moorcar has been stylised tolook like the peaks of Dartmoor).Moorcar branding on all club vehicles.Press releases to mark significant developments in the life of the car club.A car cost calculator to demonstrate the real cost of car ownership, and financialbenefit of car club membership for many drivers. ‘Owning a modest family car can costbetween £1,500 and £3,000 per year.’ (From the Moorcar website.)Financial Performance / Targets19.15 The £12,000 SEED grant and £45,000 Countryside Agency funding paid for a part-time (18hours per week) project coordinator, Jeremy Farr, for two years, as well as thelease/purchase of vehicles, and project start-up and marketing costs. In addition, Moorcarhas fairly recently secured £13,450 from the Dartmoor Sustainability Fund, which has beenused to expand the scheme into Buckfastleigh.19.16 One target associated with the grant applications was to achieve 30 Moorcar members byMarch 2004. This was not met, although the membership figure has recently (July 2004)crept up to 30.Research and Development19.17 The Exeter University research fellow who carried out the feasibility study has continued tobe involved in the project as lay auditor, and providing ad hoc advice to the co-operativesteering group – at much-reduced consultancy fee rates. He has, for example, developed amanagement plan to simplify record keeping, and to provide accurate data to base decisionson pricing structures.Support/Consultation19.18 Run as a co-operative, Moorcar members have a good deal of say in how the projectevolves. In practice, however, they often leave this to the employed coordinator. Membersare invited to a project development meeting every couple of months, “which is designed tobe more of an informal chat than a stuffy meeting”, and tends to be held in an appealingvenue, such as a pub or cafe. As the project coordinators post is only funded for two years –indeed the funding period is almost expired – Jeremy Farr has been trying to encourage themembers of the co-operative to take ownership of, and responsibility for, Moorcar to ensureit continues when/if he steps down as a paid employee.User Perceptions19.19 The following thoughts are a representative sample of those expressed by Moorcarmembers:Final V1.1, Dec. 2004 - 113 -
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Making Car Sharing and Car Clubs Work - Case ... - The Civil Service

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