Press Release

Mayor sets out plan for car club expansion
17-3-2008   200

The Mayor of London, Ken Livingstone, today set out an ambitious plan designed to expand London's network of car clubs, making them more accessible to all with 50 per cent of London's population within a 5 minutes walk of a car club vehicle by 2012, and 75 per cent within a 10 minute walk.

London is at the forefront of the car club market in the UK, and is home to 75 per cent of the UK car club fleet. Car clubs allow members to hire cars for short periods, meaning that people who need to use a car occasionally don't have to buy and maintain a vehicle of their own. They have been demonstrated as a successful alternative to car ownership and a means of reducing congestion, with each car club vehicle replacing up to 10 privately owned vehicles on the capital's roads, and members reducing their car use by more than a third (36%).

There are currently over 1,000 car club vehicles in the capital, with 21% of Londoners within a five minute walk of a car club vehicle and 37% within a 10 minute walk. The new targets will massively increase the number of Londoners within proximity of these vehicles to further reduce car ownership and congestion across the Capital.

Transport for London have supported the growth of car clubs to date by working with local borough councils to enable the provision of on-street bays for the vehicles and the enforcement of associated parking regulations and have contributed to the development of a new logo, to enable people to easily recognise car club vehicles and bays.

The Mayor of London, Ken Livingstone, said:

"Car clubs have a proven record in cutting congestion and car use, and can therefore help to tackle climate change. They provide those who need to use cars on the odd occasion a perfect alternative to car ownership and ultimately reduce car trips, to the benefit of the environment. The new targets I am announcing will help us towards our goal of making car clubs truly accessible to Londoners, with a car club vehicle available within a five minute walk of half the London population by 2012."

Ben Plowden, Programme Director of Smarter Travel at Transport for London said:

“As the number of car club cars continues to grow in the capital, more and more people are discovering that you can have the benefits of access to a car without the financial or environmental cost of owning one.

“Our support for car clubs is helping to cut the number of cars on the road, ease pressure on parking, and reduce congestion and pollution in the capital.”

Green Party London Assembly member Jenny Jones said: "Car clubs are the future in London, because car clubs match the way more and more Londoners are living. Whilst Londoner's are still buying cars, they are using them less and less. Car clubs require a simple shift in habit and thinking about cars, but it is one of those lifestyle choices, which will eventually sweep across the city. The Mayor has set an amazingly ambitious target, but it can be delivered. It just requires the kind of vision that Paris had when they went for the Velib bike hire scheme. I predict that this will lead to a similar transformation of lifestyles and habits."

Londoners typically save nearly £2,000 a year by becoming a car club member (using a car club vehicle costs c.£700 pa, whereas owning an equivalent car costs £2,749).

Vehicles can be booked for as little as half an hour at a time using telephone or internet and are located in dedicated bays and accessed via the members smart card. Details of all car club vehicles in London can be found at www.carclubs.org.uk/

More than £1.5m funding has been provided to support the introduction of car clubs in London to date. The cost of achieving these targets has been estimated to be about £4.3M over 4 years.

ENDS

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