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Car clubs and car sharing
provide an alternative to private car ownership and solo trips.
Each measure makes significant reductions in car miles driven
through changes in travel behaviour and in the number of cars on
the road, maximising the efficiency of the reduced number of
cars in use. The combined effect is a reduction in local air
pollution and the emission of climate changing gases.
In the
UK, former car owners increase their use of non-car transport
modes by 40% after joining a car club. Two-thirds of those who
owned a car before joining saw their mileage fall, by an average
of around 25%.
ECI, University of Oxford 'UK car clubs: an effective way of
cutting vehicle usage and emissions?' Matthew Ledbury 2004
Fewer
car miles driven
Car clubs result in a reduction
in car miles driven, with members walking or cycling more, using
public transport more often or simply re-arranging how they make
journeys and traveling less. Belonging to a car club makes it easier
for residents to meet their transport needs without running their
own car, or in some cases without owning a second car. This means
people are free to choose the best option for each journey. Research
in the
It
is estimated that there will be I million users of car clubs by
2015.
Carplus
More efficient use of
cars
A shift to newer, more carbon efficient and better maintained cars
of car club fleets means that car club vehicles are normally more
carbon efficient than the average private car. People joining car
clubs often give up a polluting 'old banger', thereby further
reducing emissions.
The 2005 CityCarClubs
data revealed that 45% of private cars that were replaced by use of
a car club car were more than 10 years old.
CityCarClubs, 2005
Use of cleaner fuel
technology
The impact of car clubs on air quality can be increased yet further
with the use of low emission and alternative fuel vehicles. A few
examples of schemes which also use alternative fuels include:
Hourcar in Hebden Bridge which uses biodiesel made from
vegetable oil
WhizzGo have LPG vehicles in some London
bays, and plan to use a fleet running on
30%
bio-diesel in Manchester and 'stop and start' Citroen cars into
York, whereby the engine cuts out automatically when stopped at
a junction or in a queue of traffic
Less cold starts
It takes around 2 miles for engines to reach
optimum temperature during which emissions are at around 20% more
per mile. Private car use average journey length is 6.8 miles so
around 10% of the distance driven is under cold start conditions,
whereas club car drivers average journey lengths are 30-50 miles,
because members tend to combine many reasons for travel within one
trip to make the hire more efficient. So only 2% of the distances
driven are under cold start conditions.
Sheffield Case Study
Sheffield City Council has the only dedicated
car club officer post in the country in a local authority which is
funded by DEFRA to as part of an overall air quality improvement
plan. The aim is to support the car club as a measure which can
contribute to emission reductions through behavioural change. The
following is an extract from the proposal adopted by the Cabinet on
28 June 2006.
"The development of a
car club is integrated within the Local Transport Plan, Sheffield
Development Framework and the corporate Travel Plan. It links to the
county-wide Travelwise and Care4Air initiatives and has a headline
objective of contributing to improving air quality".
Car sharing improving
air quality
60%
of car drivers would be willing to share a car to work if there was
someone suitable to travel with.
Reed employment agency
The average car
commuter drives 19 miles a day. Cutting that by half through car
sharing would save 648kg of carbon dioxide over one year.
Environment Agency
Easing congestion
Car sharing reduces the number of commuter cars at peak times whilst
car club schemes promote modal shift to public transport walking and
cycling. Improving traffic flow also helps cars run more efficiently
and reduces the build up of local pollution.
On the Leeds HOV lane,
the journey times of those travelling in shared cars decreased by
3.5 minutes and those travelling in the non HOV lane saw a decrease
of 1.5 minutes. The buses also reported significant reductions in
journey times.
Leeds City Council HOV Information Sheet
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