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

More documents

Recommendations

Info

MAKING CAR SHARING AND CAR CLUBS WORKCASE STUDY SUMMARIES12 SOMERSET CAR SHARE SCHEMEGeneral Background12.1 It response to concerns about rising traffic levels, and conscious that it needed to lead byexample, Somerset County Council (SCC) set up a travel plan working group several yearsago. It appointed a member of staff – the interviewee, Craig Lamberton, who was contractedfrom WS Atkins at the time – as a staff travel coordinator about five years ago. Craig’s postbecame funded by the DfT, under the travel plan officer bursary scheme, although his remitwas widened to include facilitating the development of travel plans among organisationsthroughout the County. When the DfT funding ceased, at a time when SCC faced budgetand staff cuts, Craig’s responsibilities were broadened and the time he can devote to travelplanning alone has decreased.12.2 The idea for a county-wide car share scheme was mooted in the summer of 2001, andlaunched in June 2002. It was prompted by an acknowledged need to supplement therelatively sparse public transport that services this predominantly rural county. SCCcommissioned Jambusters, at a cost of around £37,000, to develop and refine software tomeet the project objectives of enabling companies to join a car share scheme, allowing theiremployees to access the car share database, while retaining SCC as the overall schemeadministrator.Operating Structure12.3 Somerset Car Share Scheme is open to any business or organisation in the County,including educational establishments – such as colleges of further education. Members canelect to join an ‘open’ scheme, where their staff can search for sharers from otherorganisations; or a ‘closed’ scheme, where staff search for sharers only from among theirown colleagues. To date, all member organisations have chosen open membership, for theobvious advantage that it broadens the pool of potential sharers.12.4 Craig Lamberton administers the Somerset Car Share Scheme among SCC employees.Other organisations that join the scheme appoint their own administrator, although Craigprovides an overarching level of support and administration at a County level.12.5 Organisations pay an initial joining cost based on the number of staff/students who requireaccess to the database. As SCC commissioned Jambusters to develop software which theIT company can now sell to other organisations, the local authority negotiated reduced feesfor members of its scheme. The Somerset cost structure is summarised in the table below.Number of employeesCost to employer0 to 50 £10051 to 100 £150101 to 150 £200Final V1.1, Dec. 2004 - 76 -
MAKING CAR SHARING AND CAR CLUBS WORKCASE STUDY SUMMARIESNumber of employeesCost to employer151 to 250 £250251 to 500 £350501 to 1,000 £7501,000 to 2,500 £1,2502,500 plus £1,50012.6 The cost of joining a comparable car share scheme outside Somerset is given in the tablebelow. Note, that Somerset has a cost structure that does not penalise smallerorganisations, which represent the vast majority of employers in the County.Number of employeesCost to employer0 to 1,000 £1,8001,001 to 2,000 £2,7502,001 to 3,000 £3,6503,001 to 4,000 £4,5004,001 to 5,000 £5,3005,001 to 6,000 £6,0506,001 to 7,000 £6,7507,001 to 8,000 £7,4008,001 to 9,000 £8,0009,001 to 10,000 £8,75010,001 plus £9,45012.7 In addition to the joining fee, members of the Somerset Car Share Scheme pay an annuallicence fee of £75 (waived in the case on non-profit making bodies). This is much lower thanthat charged to members of comparable schemes in other areas, who are typically chargedan annual fee of 33% of joining costs (subject to a minimum charge of £900 excluding VAT).12.8 Once an organisation has joined the scheme and gained access to the computeriseddatabase, it’s staff register an interest via the web site www.somersetcarsharescheme.co.ukOnce their status as an employee of a scheme member organisation has been validatedthey are issued with a user name and password by the administrator, and are asked tocomplete a car share profile. This will inform others about their home/work locations,preferred travelling times, days they would like to share, personal preferences re smokingFinal V1.1, Dec. 2004 - 77 -
Page 1:
Department forTransportMaking Car S
Page 4 and 5:
MAKING CAR SHARING AND CAR CLUBS WO
Page 6 and 7:
Page 8 and 9:
Page 10 and 11:
Page 12:
Page 15 and 16:
Page 17:
Page 21 and 22:
Page 23 and 24:
Page 25 and 26:
Page 27 and 28:
Page 29 and 30: MAKING CAR SHARING AND CAR CLUBS WO
Page 79: MAKING CAR SHARING AND CAR CLUBS WO
Page 131 and 132:
Page 133 and 134:
Page 135 and 136:
Page 137 and 138:
Page 139 and 140:
Page 141 and 142:
Page 143 and 144:
show all

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

Create successful ePaper yourself

Delete template?

Save as template?