MAKING CAR SHARING AND CAR CLUBS WORKCASE STUDY SUMMARIESFinancial Performance / Targets6.28 £750,000 over 5 years is committed to the Travel Plan. <strong>Car</strong> sharing is just a part of this,though a significant part, <strong>and</strong> a large part of this money is for supporting additional busservices. It is not envisaged that any of this will be spent on consultancy.6.29 <strong>The</strong> Travel Plan Co-ordinator wants to see somewhere between 3% <strong>and</strong> 5% of staff carsharing.Although this may not seem high it is a realistic target <strong>and</strong> amounts to a largenumber of people: there are 2,500 staff now <strong>and</strong> this number will double under the new PFIscheme.Research <strong>and</strong> Development6.30 <strong>The</strong> earlier Transport Impact Study was done by consultants, <strong>and</strong> it is thought that they willcome back to do an updated one. Consultants are also used for the technical aspects of allthe MEHT planning applications. However, in terms of advising what to do on theBroomfield sites site, consultants are not used, since in her previous job, elsewhere, theTravel Planning Co-ordinator had already benefited from free government-fundedconsultancy advice, so was fully aware of all the issues surrounding travel planning whenshe joined MEHT.6.31 <strong>The</strong>re is an application for a large staff car park of 700 spaces, <strong>and</strong> there is a concern thatwhen this is built it will slow down the impetus for car-sharing. <strong>The</strong>refore it is important tocontinue to make car-sharing highly visible now, so that the best parking spaces in the newcar park can be allocated for car-sharing at the beginning. In the long-term the schemecould be improved by having barrier car parking areas, although this is very expensive(around £10,000, compared to about £100 per car-share sign <strong>and</strong> £35 for painting the carsharesymbol on the parking space), <strong>and</strong> removes flexibility. MEHT has not wanted to dothis to date because of the incremental increase in the number of car parking spaces, but itcould be possible in the long-term. <strong>Making</strong> sure that people know about the car-sharingscheme, making sure the spaces go in the right places <strong>and</strong> making sure that they areenforced correctly are all important. In the early days enforcement was rather lacking,because of a lack of staff to do this. Formerly they fined people: now they don’t do this, butinstead phone people up <strong>and</strong> make them come out of whatever they are doing to move thecar.Support/Consultation6.32 <strong>The</strong>re was a large <strong>and</strong> time-consuming consultation with the union, though they weren’tparticularly opposed to it. <strong>The</strong>re were also long discussions about where to put car-sharespaces: MEHT could not move them to the public pay <strong>and</strong> display car parks because of acontract with a car park management company. However, in fact this was the right choice inpublic relations terms because otherwise staff car-share parking would have displacedpublic parking near the hospital entrance.6.33 It was felt that the Travel Plan Co-ordinator had h<strong>and</strong>led the delicate public relations <strong>and</strong>negotiation issues very well, <strong>and</strong> there has been steady progress at MEHT of listening toconcerns <strong>and</strong> taking them seriously.Final V1.1, Dec. 2004 - 44 -
MAKING CAR SHARING AND CAR CLUBS WORKCASE STUDY SUMMARIESUser Perceptions6.34 <strong>The</strong>re were a number of complaints about the scheme when it was started: a lot of staff feltthat others were getting something which they weren’t. However, staff have now generallycome round to the idea, as they have realised that even if they are not in the scheme it doesbenefit them as well because it frees up spaces <strong>and</strong> increases their likelihood of getting aspace. <strong>The</strong> erection of car-share signs in some of the car bays adjacent to the Trust Boardoffices was a powerful factor swaying staff opinion in favour of the scheme. <strong>The</strong> originalspaces were across the site away from these offices, but were then moved. <strong>The</strong> Travel PlanCo-ordinator is also seen as an impressive advocate of the scheme.Other General Issues6.35 <strong>The</strong> interviewees felt that a locally operated scheme which isn’t restricted to just oneorganisation works well. <strong>The</strong> biggest single thing to encourage car sharing was felt to beHigh-Occupancy Vehicle lanes, which would be a major statement of the government’ssupport for car sharing, <strong>and</strong> was felt to be really the only way to get car-sharing into theconsciousness of the average person.6.36 <strong>The</strong> interviewees thought that car-share schemes could be an effective tool for accessibilityin semi-rural areas, but only where a back-up alternative was available if car-sharing was notavailable every day it was required.Final V1.1, Dec. 2004 - 45 -