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

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MAKING CAR SHARING AND CAR CLUBS WORKCASE STUDY SUMMARIESand profile terms, whilst at the same time being easy for SHA to operate - take-up has beenvery low. A key barrier to success is that it has not yet become part of a general culture forliving in the city centre.22.17 Fragility of the BackTrak keys is a problem, as they can break quite easily and are costly toreplace. Also, the Backtrak software was at first rather unreliable: downloading results tospreadsheets is still rather complex and analysing the data can be time consuming.22.18 The scheme has been successful in meeting several disparate requirements while at thesame time being operated at the margin. SHA reports that there have been surprisingly fewproblems with the City Wheels scheme, with members being a self-policing group.Supporting Measures / Alternative Approaches Considered22.19 No additional transport arrangements existed already to support the car club. However, anarrangement has been created with a South Wales based car hire firm, which will provide acar at a reduced rate if a City Wheels car is not available; plus bigger, more powerful cars ifstaff or members want to make longer journeys for which the city mini range on offer is notsuitable. There is no obvious link to the Local Transport Plan but a clear link to the jointstakeholders’ policy on Swansea City Centre regeneration.Integration with Other Schemes22.20 There is no integration with other schemes as yet, but SHA is keen to be seen as a nationalflagship of innovation in city centre housing so some integration with other similar schemescould be considered for the future.Marketing and Promotion22.21 SHA uses promotional leaflets, but does not use membership invitations, except mentioningCity Wheels at the interview for accommodation. There is a City Wheels website, and aregular feature in the SHA’s quarterly tenants’ magazine, plus occasional cheese and wineparties and open evenings. The key marketing message is that City Wheels is accessible,affordable, attractive, stylish and convenient.22.22 The scheme has not so far targeted particular types of user, except to the extent that SHA’stenants do tend to be single people. However, SHA is currently planning to promote CityWheels amongst its older active tenants, as it believes they are now an important potentialclient group. This is because the elderly are driving longer, and wishing to use a car forvisiting friends and relatives, whilst also wanting to do without the ‘hassle’ of maintaining andinsuring a car. Focus Groups have mentioned car access as a facility that older peoplewould like.22.23 SHA is now more confident that City Wheels works, and will be marketing it moreaggressively in the new Urban Village planned for Swansea from 2005. SHA has talked withCardiff Community Housing, and has had several shorter discussions with other HousingAssociations, about marketing the City Wheels brand across other housing providers: it mayalso hold a Car Club conference in the near future.Final V1.1, Dec. 2004 - 132 -
MAKING CAR SHARING AND CAR CLUBS WORKCASE STUDY SUMMARIESFinancial Performance / Targets22.24 Fixed Fees are a one-off £25 Joining Fee, with other one-off fees of £10 for the BackTrakkey and £5 for the Safe Key. The monthly membership fee is £10. On top of this there aretime-based fees of £4 for a Monday to Friday morning or an afternoon (each a four-hourperiod), £6 for overnight during the week (or any period after 17:30 during the week), £10 foreach of Saturday or Sunday or £20 for the whole period from 17:30 Friday to 08:30 Monday.In addition, there are distance-based fees of 15p per mile, which includes fuel. This makes itquite expensive for longer journeys, but when compared to the cost of taxing, insuring,maintaining and running a reasonably new vehicle on the road it remains the cheaperalternative.22.25 SHA emphasises that City Wheels only has a business case because it is marginal and isrun off the back of the pool car system. Administrative costs are low while installation costsare of the order of £200 for each BackTrak black box per car, plus £200 installation per car,and about £1,800 for a single-user licence of BackTrak software.Research and Development22.26 Prior to starting the Car Club, SHA did major Focus Group and other research on the profileof people it wanted to attract, then looked at ways of “enticing” those people to come andlive in the city centre. The Focus Group research indicated that lack of available car parkingwas a problem to participants. SHA also looked at Edinburgh Car Club and carried out someresearch internally. However, the decision to go for a car club was really a result of acreative process of looking at alternatives, and concluding that there were really no realisticones and the desire for a marketing edge on competitors.22.27 If starting the Car Club now, SHA would buy more Smart Cars, and would get right-handdrive versions: only left-hand drive versions were available at the time. There are severalbenefits to these vehicles: they have excellent marketing potential, fitting the young andlively image that SHA was looking for as well as appealing to older people as being easy tomanoeuvre and with a higher sitting position and all-round visibility. The, as yet, unusualstyle and the two-seater design as well as features like having no visible locks also act assomething of a crime deterrent compared to more traditional vehicle styles. In addition, twoSmart Cars can fit into one parking space making them ideal for areas where parking spaceis limited.22.28 Also, whilst SHA would still have launched the scheme in tandem with a flagshipdevelopment, it would have started marketing City Wheels at an earlier stage. Many of theapartments in the Old Post Office development had already been allocated by the time thecar club was ‘up and running’, and therefore those people with plans to move into the cityhad already decided what they would do about transport.22.29 Plans for a new Urban Village (some 120 units) are well ahead and it is envisaged that thecar club will certainly be promoted to prospective tenants at an early stage. SHA is alsoplanning a large increase in the number of properties in the Neath area for the end of 2004and it will introduce City Wheels there with possibly 2-3 cars. Although it believes that carclub membership becoming the ‘norm’ is some way off, once this occurred and SHA neededFinal V1.1, Dec. 2004 - 133 -
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