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

MAKING CAR SHARING AND CAR CLUBS WORKCASE STUDY SUMMARIESoffered by the County Council has enabled staff to more easily match with a wider range ofcar share partners.11.10 With regard publicity, a particular success has been identified through the radio adverts, withincreases in web-site activity in parallel with the timing of the interviews. Paper advertisingincluding posters and leaflets, as well as some press coverage, has also helped.11.11 On the negative side, the scheme suffers from a lack of specific incentives. As such it reliesupon the voluntary adoption of car sharing, hence places a great emphasis on the marketingof the environmental and financial gains to staff. Whilst this has attracted many users, theintroduction of ‘carrots’ and, in particular ‘sticks’, would clearly increase support (for examplecar park charges with exemptions for sharers, dedicated spaces for sharers, or financialincentives for sharing). The car parks at County Hall are managed by an externalorganisation, and as such their have been difficulties is agreeing how the car parks will bebetter managed to promote car sharing.11.12 In addition, the use of www.carshare.to has caused confusion amongst some staff members(the word to, two and 2), and for some members, the uncertainty of transferring betweenwww.carshare.to and www.liftshare.com has raised some concerns. Whilst the schemeintegrates well between the City and County Councils, the core hours of the twoorganisations do not match (16:00 for the County and 16:15 for the City), and hencecompatibility of sharers between the two organisations is limited.11.13 The early introduction of the scheme resulted in initial problems of match compatibility (i.e.not within close geographic areas), although these issues have since been addressed by thesystem supplier Liftshare.com.11.14 It is also not possible to easily monitor actual usage levels (the database recordsregistrations, but does not reflect matches and usage), hence additional annual travelsurveys are required to record changes in mode split (which will also incorporate changes asa result of other measures within the travel plan).Supporting Measures / Alternative Approaches Considered11.15 County Hall benefits from a wider range of supporting measures, including:On-site cycle parking, showers, lockers and changing facilitiesA regular shuttle bus to/from the City CentreA direct bus service from a Park and Ride siteTravel information widely available at both the reception and on the Intranet11.16 The car share scheme itself does not currently have a guaranteed ride home scheme,although this is something that the Travel Plan Co-ordinator would be working towards. Inaddition to the ‘Frequently Asked Questions’, the scheme also provides users with a proformaletter to send to their insurance company informing them of their intention to car share,and that no financial gain will be made over and above running costs.Final V1.1, Dec. 2004 - 71 -