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

MAKING CAR SHARING AND CAR CLUBS WORKCASE STUDY SUMMARIESFinancial Performance / Targets11.22 The costs for the scheme comprise the following:Scheme ComponentStart-up including softwareEstimated Cost (per year)£7,200 (one off cost)Marketing and Promotion £1,000-10,000 per year (variable). It isrecognised that more should be done in thisarea, but staff time is the major constraint.Staff TimeOn-going software license costsIncentivesApprox. 15 (days per year)£2,200 per year£0 at present11.23 Norfolk County Council does not have any specific targets for the car share schemeamongst its own staff (although they are considering such targets in the next LTP).Research and Development11.24 The scheme is continuing to develop, with on-going improvements to the software andscheme promotional activities. Software developments include improved matching(including the use of ‘on-route matches’) undertaken by Liftshare.com, and improvedcommunications between potential partners. The County Council are looking to establishdedicated car sharing bays within the car park as a result of direct feedback from users.They are also looking at the possibility of incentives (including additional leave), andidentifying a means of promoting car sharing more widely through the recruitment packageand car park management (i.e. consider how new starters are allocated spaces). This will belooked at as part of the wider Travel Plan.Support/Consultation11.25 The scheme was established based on the findings of the staff travel survey, undertaken aspart of the travel plan research. No specific user consultation was carried out prior to thelaunch of the scheme, nor has any specific consultation been carried out since (other thenthe follow up travel plan surveys). However, the scheme does encourage user feedback,and this has resulted in direct software and support improvements, including an improvedmatching capability, and improved response times to e-mail requests. The scheme alsoprovides a direct ‘hotline’ (phone number) to the scheme provider, which is available to allusers.User Perceptions11.26 The users provided a mixed reaction to the car share scheme. Two of the users interviewedhad found compatible matches (despite some early difficulties / lack of response), and wereregular car sharers as a result (one of these car shared with a colleague from the CityFinal V1.1, Dec. 2004 - 73 -