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

MAKING CAR SHARING AND CAR CLUBS WORKCASE STUDY SUMMARIESResearch and Development10.31 The NTT was developed following recommendations in the Halton Links to Employmentresearch undertaken in 2000 by Mott MacDonald and Richard Armitage TransportConsultancy. The research included extensive consultation with community groups, localemployers, transport operators, local service providers and others to look at the barriers toemployment and ways of overcoming those barriers. The introduction of a car sharingscheme as part of the NTT’s work was included in the original recommendations. Theresearch identified the problems facing long-term unemployed people, single parentsseeking work to fit in with childcare responsibilities, disabled people, and people withoutaccess to a car. In most cases there was no single barrier to returning to work, but a seriesof inter-related issues that required solving to enable people to take the step back into theworkplace. The aim of establishing the NTT was to identify and provide bespoke solutions tothe transport element of the problem and work with other agencies to identify and implementsolutions to recurrent problems.10.32 The NTT has had some ongoing support from Richard Armitage Transport Consultancy,from Liftshare, and has also spent a day with a local marketing company. The NTT hasfound that commercial companies like Liftshare and the marketing company find it difficult tounderstand social inclusion and are challenged when required to develop marketingstrategies that do not just concentrate on congestion issues and lack of car parking.Support/Consultation10.33 The NTT did not specifically go out to consultation on the car sharing scheme. The use ofcar sharing was discussed in principle during the Halton Links to Employment consultation.10.34 In some local workplaces informal car sharing is already widely used. For example, inRuncorn, Tibbet and Britten undertook a survey in 2000 that showed that over 40% of theirstaff already shared their car journey to work, in many cases three or more workers travellingtogether. This company has a regular shift work pattern, staff travel from several local towns,and there is a culture of meeting in the staff canteen because of the nature of the work (so itis easy to arrange and rearrange car sharing journeys).10.35 Car sharing was included as an option in the travel survey at The Heath Business andTechnical Park. The Heath provides serviced office and laboratory accommodation,conference facilities and a range of support services for tenants’ employees. The site isoccupied by a range of businesses, from sole traders to large technical organisations. TheHeath is working with the NTT to develop a travel plan for the site, and this includes a closedsite within Halton Journey Share. The management company at the Heath has had somesupport from the Energy Efficiency Best Practice Programme to undertake a site wide stafftravel habits survey and develop its travel plan, working in partnership with the Council.User Perceptions10.36 One user of the scheme estimates that she saves over £2,000 per annum, because carsharing means that her household does not have to own a second car. She car sharesFinal V1.1, Dec. 2004 - 67 -