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

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MAKING CAR SHARING AND CAR CLUBS WORKCASE STUDY SUMMARIES14 MBNA EUROPE, CHESTER BUSINESS PARKGeneral Background14.1 MBNA Europe operates a comprehensive Company Travel Plan marketed as ClearWays,organised by three full-time staff and two temporary staff. This includes car sharing,assistance with cycle and motorcycle purchase, cycle parking, and company buses. Inaddition, MBNA offers financial incentives for all staff who do not travel to work by car,driver alone. ClearWays was launched in the UK in 1995, by which time it was already inplace on the company’s USA sites. The car sharing element was included in 1998.14.2 At the global level, the main motivation for the scheme is: “To reduce traffic in and out ofMBNA locations and thereby reduce vehicle emissions during peak times.” However, at itsChester site, the company’s motivation for developing the scheme so comprehensively anddoggedly was to be seen as being an environmentally responsible employer and be able tocontinue to extend the business there, despite the limited car parking facilities.14.3 MBNA operates ClearWays in London, Chester, Dublin, Carrick Fergus, Madrid and in theUSA.14.4 At Chester, MBNA Europe started with 750 staff in 1995, but now employs 4,500permanent staff and 700 temporary staff. All staff are eligible to join the ClearWaysscheme.14.5 The introduction of the car sharing scheme has allowed MBNA to continue to expand in itschosen location. It has reduced potential congestion on the link to the A55, which has nowhad some highways improvements to reduce congestion problems. Prior to these changes,it could take 30 minutes to travel the half mile from the Business Park to the A55. However,the planned expansion of the Business Park will almost double the number of staff on site.Operating Structure14.6 The car sharing scheme is currently managed in-house using an Excel sheet and manualmatching. MBNA has looked at all of the commercial car sharing software and third partyinternet matching schemes. However, the company has a strict security policy coveringcomputing systems. It was estimated that using a third party scheme would take two yearsand considerable consultancy time to clear the strict vetting procedures and its subsequentembedding into the existing MBNA systems. Therefore MBNA has opted to develop its ownin-house intranet-based system, which should be up and running from October 2004.14.7 The MBNA car sharing scheme only serves its own staff, as the success of the programmeinternally has taken considerable management resource and the administration to furtherexpand the scheme would be too time consuming for the perceived benefit at this stage.14.8 Car sharers at MBNA are guaranteed a car parking space, whilst drivers who travel aloneare not. Areas of the car park are designated for car sharing staff only, and the amount ofspace available for solo car users diminishes each year. All staff at MBNA have freeFinal V1.1, Dec. 2004 - 84 -
MAKING CAR SHARING AND CAR CLUBS WORKCASE STUDY SUMMARIESparking. The company operates a ‘get you home guarantee’ for staff using any mode otherthan driver alone.14.9 The company operates financial incentives for all staff who travel by any mode besides car,driver alone. The staff are allocated a point for each day they use a travel alternative,including car sharing. When they have collected 30 points, they are credited with £20 intotheir salary. Thereafter, they are credited with £90 for every 120 points they collect.Impact and Effectiveness14.10 There are now 4,880 car share members; 12 months ago there were 3,322 and 24 monthsago there were 2,494. The use of car sharing is in line with the overall staff ratios: 41% ofstaff are male, 59% are female. MBNA does not ask detailed questions about age, but 81%of staff are over 25 with 19% under 25.Successes / Failures14.11 It has been more difficult to engage staff who worked at MBNA before the companyexpanded, as they remember the days when car parking was freely available and resentthe push towards car sharing. Getting the communication right is crucial. There are stillsome staff who view the car as their own personal space and there has been someconcern about mixing smokers with non-smokers, en route to work.14.12 Sharing personal information has not been a problem for staff. But this would have beenmore tricky if the car sharing scheme had covered the whole Business Park. TheClearWays Scheme is discussed during job interviews. However, it is felt someinterviewees are put off by the lack of parking, experienced first hand if they come by car tothe interview.Supporting Measures / Alternative Approaches Considered14.13 The success of MBNA’s travel planning has been down to the dogged determination of theClearWays team. Besides car sharing, which has been the most successful measure,video-conferencing facilities are available and there are pool cars on site, keeping thecompany car fleet to a minimum. MBNA also provides free works buses from locationswhere there are clusters of staff. Staff are offered 0% loans for cycles and motorcycles,with showers and lockers for cyclists, and there are financial incentives for all staff who donot travel to work by car, driver alone. The most important reason to join the car sharingscheme is the lack of parking space on-site, in which context the guaranteed parkingspaces for car sharers are a firm winner.14.14 Individual travel costs have been reduced significantly. As part of the promotion of the carsharing scheme, MBNA looked at cost savings on journeys from Wrexham and Manchesterand the estimated savings on petrol costs alone were between £200 and £500 per annum.In marketing terms, the financial incentives (described earlier) offered to car sharers arebased on the cost of car tax.Final V1.1, Dec. 2004 - 85 -
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Making Car Sharing and Car Clubs Work - Case ... - The Civil Service

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