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

MAKING CAR SHARING AND CAR CLUBS WORKCASE STUDY SUMMARIESto offer more cars as a result, it would be looking at cars which are “a bit different” (e.g.sports cars), and something that members would aspire to. SHA also plans to move to a newsoftware system once the number of cars in City Wheels increases substantially. It isunderstood that there is no demand for internet booking at the present time.Support/Consultation22.30 The scheme was devised entirely in-house with no external support. Although SwanseaCouncil has been happy to publicise City Wheels, it did not play a role in helping to set it up.Certain other organisations were approached for assistance but were ultimately rejected bySHA. Reasons included one organisation’s overtly ‘green’ image, which did not sit well withthe emphasis on ‘lifestyle aspirations’ which SHA was trying to project; the type of carsoffered (instead, SHA wanted to go for more eye-catching vehicles); and car leasingrequirements, which did not fit with SHA’s inability to re-claim VAT because of its charitablestatus. There was very little consultation with potential users before the scheme wasestablished, though SHA staff were consulted.User Perceptions22.31 The key perceptual barriers related to staff, who were particularly concerned about potentialmanagement problems, about their rights to claim mileage and essential users allowancebeing eroded, and about having to share cars with tenants. However, this resistancewithered away once the scheme started. Tenants were also wary of it: being suspicious of itand of how it operated, but again, SHA reports that this resistance has disappeared. Theone user that we were able to interview said that her attitude to other forms of sustainabletravel has changed since joining the car club: she now sees the futility of trying to persuadecar users to give up their preferred method of transport and instead feels that promotingsmaller, cleaner and greener cars as the way ahead. If the number of people making regularjourneys into towns and cities as one occupant of a four seater car could be reduced bypromoting and giving incentives to drivers of small two seater cars like the Smart car thenpressures on parking would be lifted almost immediately. She also said it would beinteresting to see the effect if instead of getting on a bus at a Park ‘n’ Ride you picked up aSmart car!Other General Issues22.32 SHA believes that car clubs can only succeed if they are seen as less ‘green’ and as not justa ‘worthy’ option but a ‘sexy’ option as well: it sees the image of car clubs as extremelyimportant in their success. It is also of the view that they cannot be an effective tool inincreasing accessibility in rural areas as they need a much larger number of people usingthem than a rural area can provide. According to SHA, the key triggers for encouraging carclubs are where it is difficult to have a car: for instance where there is no car park or wherepeople have to walk a long way from car park to home. SHA also believes that the car clubconcept doesn’t work if you need a car for work. SHA believe that to be viable a car clubmust have at least 3-4 cars, and a large potential membership (there has to be reasonableavailability of cars: this requires a fairly substantial number of cars, and to make theeconomics work this requires a large membership).Final V1.1, Dec. 2004 - 134 -