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

MAKING CAR SHARING AND CAR CLUBS WORKCASE STUDY SUMMARIESResearch and Development12.24 Following a number of enquiries, SCC plans to open a web portal for the general public tojoin the Somerset Car Share Scheme. However, individuals will only be able to accessdetails of other members of the public who have joined, and not those of people who havejoined through organisations. “As employers don’t want to have to deal with any madmembers of the public!”12.25 An additional member of staff has recently been appointed by Somerset County Council towork on the car share scheme two days per week, assisting Craig Lamberton who has otherresponsibilities in addition to scheme administrator. Their task will be to help develop andgrow the scheme, and to support existing members.Support / Consultation12.26 As overall scheme administrator, Craig Lamberton provides a degree of support to memberorganisations, in turn they appoint their own administrators that provide support forindividuals who join the database.“I seem to spend a good deal of time spoon-feeding organisations”, commented CraigLamberton. “I’ll have a lot of contact with a company before it signs up, then I need to trainthe appointed administrator to both sell the scheme to staff and students, and deal withday-to-day queries from that organisations’ members. In some cases, I have had to returnthree or four times before they’ve got the hang of it.”User Perceptions12.27 Below is a sample of the views of the scheme users who were interviewed.“To be honest I think most SCC employees who join the scheme do so primarily to gain aparking permit.”“I think Craig does a really good job as scheme administrator. He keeps people informed ofnew developments, and if we ever have a question or problem he’s on the case straightaway. It helps to have an understanding person in this role, rather than a jobs-worth.”“Having to re-register every quarter is a bit of a pain. I understand why we have to do it, toweed out those who aren’t sharing any more and reclaim their parking permits. But I thinkonce every six months would be frequent enough.”“A lot of those working in the SCC highways and transport department are actually nowemployed by WS Atkins. We’ve got an agency agreement. However Atkins staff, many ofwhom are ex-SCC employees, can’t be the permit holder in a car share group. They haveto find an SCC worker to lead the group and apply for a permit – like me, and I can’t drive!”“My car share partner drives all the time, as I can’t drive and in any case I work part-time.However, he wont even let me contribute to petrol costs. He’s a family friend, he doesn’thave to go out of his way to pick me up/drop me off, and I entitle him to a free parkingspace at work.”Final V1.1, Dec. 2004 - 82 -