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

MAKING CAR SHARING AND CAR CLUBS WORKCASE STUDY SUMMARIES6 BROOMFIELD HOSPITAL, CHELMSFORDGeneral Background6.1 Broomfield Hospital is the major 800-bed site of Mid Essex Hospital Services NHS Trust(MEHT), which also covers two smaller sites in Chelmsford. Both of these are due to be fullymerged on the Broomfield site within the next five years, on an expanded site financed undera PFI contract. Small hospital sites are also operated in two other towns in the area. Inrecent years it has become one of the largest NHS trusts in the country.6.2 Currently, the Broomfield Hospital site employs about 3,000 people, all of whom are eligibleto join the car share scheme, and of whom 130 have joined so far. The car sharing schemewas devised and introduced upon the appointment of a Travel Plan Co-ordinator in summer2003. This followed a commitment to introduce a Car Sharing scheme as part of a GreenTravel Plan. The Travel Plan was proposed in a Consultants Report following a TransportImpact Study in February 2002, as part of the strategy to relocate MEHT services on anexpanded Broomfield site. The consultants also recommended that the car sharing schemeinclude dedicated parking spaces for car sharers, a guaranteed lift home, and a needsbasedapproach for allocating car parking spaces. As well as proposing initiatives to make itmore attractive for staff at Broomfield to cycle to work it also, crucially, included theappointment of a Travel Plan Co-ordinator. The consultants also proposed preliminarytargets for a reduction in the number of employees travelling by car.6.3 As well as the Green Travel Plan, driven very largely by the planned expansion of theBroomfield site, a main motivation for the scheme was continued and growing pressure onthe existing car parking facilities at Broomfield Hospital.6.4 The car sharing scheme has three main aspects:• Car-share matching through an internet-based service• Car sharing permits and dedicated car-sharing bays• Strong publicity for the scheme6.5 The internet-based matching service is operated as part of www.Travelshare-Essex.com. Atthe interview with Broomfield Hospital, the Travel Plan Co-ordinator, Teresa Prosser, hadinvited the General Manager of the Chelmsford Environment Partnership, which runsTravelshare-Essex, to also meet us, indicating the close and successful working relationshipbetween MEHT and Travelshare-Essex.Operating Structure6.6 Car-share matching is done through the Travelshare-Essex website, though in practicemany staff find their own car-sharers themselves. However, they have to be registered onthe Travelshare-Essex website in order to obtain a car-sharer’s parking bay permit. Thesecar share-only staff car parking spaces were introduced from February 2004. Staff canregister as a driver, a passenger or both.Final V1.1, Dec. 2004 - 39 -