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

MAKING CAR SHARING AND CAR CLUBS WORKCASE STUDY SUMMARIES“It’s much less hassle than conventional car hire. You only have to produce your drivinglicence and bank details once, when you join the club, not every time you want to use acar.”“I have a car, but joined Moorcar as I support the environmental arguments. I use their carsoccasionally when mine has broken down, or I need a larger vehicle.”“I’ve not known a problem with vehicle availability, there’s always been one there when I’veneeded it. But that’s probably because the club isn’t very big at the moment. I want it togrow to ensure it survives, as I’ve come to rely on it a lot. But I’m worried that moremembers will also restrict when I can access the cars.”“I plan my Moorcar vehicle hire well in advance, and make full use of the hours I’vebooked. But then I am retired, so I’ve got the time and like to make the most of what I’mpaying for.”“I’m completely different. I’ve been known to hire a Moorcar vehicle on the spur of themoment when I’ve lost my own car keys. I use them for social trips and shoppingexpeditions, which can be quite uneconomical as the car spends a lot of the time idle.”“As a women I like the fact that there’s a flat rate hire charge for the day, which for thesmall cars is less than £1 an hour. This means I can avoid returning a vehicle late at night,and not worry about racking up hire charges for when its parked outside my houseovernight.”“I’ve been able to get rid of my own vehicle since I joined the car club, and have worked outthat Moorcar saves me around £2,000 a year – mainly avoiding the depreciation on avehicle.”“A lot of people in this area run fairly old vehicles, as that’s all they can afford. These havea tendency to break down, and the car club provides a useful safety net. I joined in part as Ineeded reassurance that I’d always have access to a vehicle in an emergency.”Other General Issues19.20 The birth, evolution and continuing existence of Moorcar can be largely attributed to the localknowledge, community links, entrepreneurial skills and spirit, and generosity with their time,of a number of individuals – particularly the project coordinator – who are personallycommitted to the aims of this initiative and seeing it succeed. Its long-term financial viabilityis far from assured, and it has relied heavily on grant-aid to get established. There isuncertainty about the ability of the scheme to continue to support a paid coordinator in theshort term, now that grant aid for this is coming to an end. However, it would be a shame tolose the experience and skills the coordinator has acquired during the implementation phaseof the project, and he is currently still exploring new ways to enable Moorcar to stand on itsown feet financially. Ideas include:Extending membership to drivers under 23 years of age, who are excluded from the carclub on insurance grounds, but for whom access and transport problems in rural areasare particularly acute.Final V1.1, Dec. 2004 - 114 -