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

MAKING CAR SHARING AND CAR CLUBS WORKCASE STUDY SUMMARIESThe branded cars are used as marketing vehicles themselves. They display messageslike: “Yours for around £1 a week”, and “The smart person’s second car”.Leaflets dispensers are located at the railway station, corner shops, supermarkets, thelibrary, etc.20.17 The car club manager drew some interesting distinctions between the marketing needs ofrural and urban car clubs, including the following. “Word of mouth is a much more importantand powerful marketing tool in rural areas. But it can act in both a positive and negative way,if someone has a bad experience in a village or small town, word spreads like wildfire.”Example A2B leafletsFinancial Performance / Targets20.18 A2B Car Club had a target to have 30 signed-up members by the end of the three year RuralBus Grant funding window, which finished spring 2004. This was not achieved: the currentmembership is just two-thirds of this number (20).20.19 A three-year grant from the Countryside Agency to develop the car club, including staffcosts, will cease at the end of March 2005.Research and Development20.20 A2B has engaged in a fair amount of market research. During the start-up phase, 4,000questionnaires were distributed to passengers on the local rail network. It sought people’sperceptions of the nature of transport problems in the Bradford on Avon area, and mootedpossible solutions to these problems, including the idea of a car club. Those among the 200or so respondents who expressed an interest in the car club concept formed the basis of the‘potential members log’, and have since received more personalised marketing. “We’reaware that it takes around 18 months – and lots of hand-holding – between somebodysaying ‘that’s a good idea’ to them actually doing something about it. And, of course, noteveryone stays the course: from 100 who express a sincere interest, we might hope toeventually see one third become new members.”Final V1.1, Dec. 2004 - 119 -