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Across Europe, public transport operators have recognised the potential of a car club to help them attract new and retain existing patronage, while many of the successful car clubs in Europe have found that partnership with public transport operators has been key to their growth. Joint ticketing and marketing together with integrated information have helped provide 'one more link in the chain to provide seamless mobility at any time the user requires it.' Hans Rat, Secretary General UITP
Car clubs are a key part of an integrated transport system, giving access to a choice of vehicles for those journeys which are best made by car; partnership with public transport, in conjunction with rideshare, car hire, taxis, cycling and walking, can offer a flexible transport package that gives people a real alternative to car ownership.
Research from Europe reinforces this: members of the Mobility car club in Switzerland who formerly owned a car reduced their car mileage by 72% after they joined the club. They cut their overall travel by 17%, and replaced other journeys with public transport (up 35%), walking and cycling (up 70%). (Energie 2000 Research)
Research in Munich suggests that the effects of moving miles from the car to public transport continues for 3 to 5 years. Members who, as private car owners drove 13,000km had reduced to 2,500km after 5 years as a car club member. They substituted car km for PT (majority), walking and cycling.
In the UK research found that 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%. Source: Environmental Change Institute, University of Oxford 'UK car clubs: an effective way of cutting vehicle usage and emissions?' Dissertation by Matthew Ledbury Oct 2004
In Germany research has shown that offering season ticket holders access to car club vehicles for a small extra fee has helped retain existing subscribers as well as attract new customers.
Bcs, the German equivalent to Carplus learnt that car club customers spend more on public transport and buy higher value tickets e.g. monthly / annual season tickets. Car club members spend an extra Euro 25 - 75 per annum. Bcs negotiated a contribution of Euro 1.25 per month for each member using public transport to the car club operator from a public transport operator in Dresden.
There is also Government support for integration; the European Transport White Paper recommends car clubs in combination with quality public transport as a particularly sensible measure for the sustainable future development of urban traffic. The UK White Paper for Transport encourages public transport operators to introduce joint ticketing with cross-modal discount schemes; car clubs could easily be integrated into this.
Partnership initiatives
To offer a truly integrated system, a number of joint initiatives can be put
in place:
Joint ticketing : discounted schemes
- either
season ticket holders pay a small additional charge to have access to car club vehicles
OR
car club members are offered cut price season tickets
Integrated smart cards
to give access to car club vehicles and public transport, and could be extended to include taxis, hire cars, parking and more; an added advantage would be a single monthly bill to cover all transport costs
Integrated information
maps showing public transport routes, car club bays, cycling and walking routes
web-based journey planning covering a full range of transport modes
trained staff at public transport centres with a knowledge of other modes
Joint marketing
leaflets and posters advertising joint promotions
car club adverts on
buses, trains and trams, and at bus stops and train stations
Spatial linkage
parking bays at coach and train stations and close to bus stops, supplied with cycle stands and accessible by safe, pleasant walking routes
Metro, the West Yorkshire PTE, was lead partner in the Target project which launched the WhizzGo Leeds car club. They are keen to see the car club integrated with public transport: as well as having negotiated free advertising space on buses across Leeds, they are offering car club members a free monthly season ticket when they join, and along with an entitlement to a 15% discount on annual season tickets.
First Bus offers Bristol City Car Club members a 10% discount on all tickets bought in advance. They gave free quarterly season tickets to the first 4 members to give up their car on joining the club.
Thameslink, award winners for good environmental performance and public safety measures, are also committed to an integrated transport system. They believe that car clubs will ease parking problems at rail stations, and that car club membership will increase use of public transport. They are promoting the car club to their passengers and hoping to add car club parking spaces at their stations.
Both Lincolnshire and Wiltshire County Councils obtained Rural Bus Challenge funding for a car club as part of a raft of measures to tackle rural transport problems.
In some European cities the link between car clubs and public transport has moved beyond partnerships; some public transport operators have shares in the local car club, others operate the club alongside other transport modes. Cambio, a German company, which supplies the 'building blocks' for setting up and running a car club, has public transport operators as its prime target market for operating car clubs in new locations.
Switzerland
When access to car club vehicles was added to the public transport season
ticket in Zurich, 2,500 customers took advantage of the offer in the first 4
months, with a 14% increase in season ticket holders. The car club membership
charge is waived, but usage rates are slightly higher. Hertz car rental is also
a partner in the scheme, which is supported by a comprehensive information
service. A city map shows public transport routes and car club parking bays
along with pedestrian and cycle routes. This information is also available at
pubic transport stops and on the internet. The public transport company felt
that it's improved image was more important than financial gains.
In a RailLink scheme, the Mobility car club, in partnership with Swiss Rail and
Daimler Chrysler, is providing 120 Smart cars at 55 of the largest railway
stations across the country. The car club is advertised on some trains with a
photo of a soft top car and the legend ' la voiture prolonge le rail' - the car
extends the rail journey.
Germany
In 1998 in Bremen 8.5% of season ticket holders gave up their car, while 26%
decided not to buy one when the Bremer Karte season ticket was extended to cover
car club vehicles. In December 2002 the Bremer Karte + Auto Card was issued as a
multi-modal smart card which acts as an electronic public transport ticket and
gives access to car club vehicles as well as acting as an electronic purse in
some shops.
In Dresden, two public transport operators have added a car club to their service range - which already includes trams, buses, ferry and mountain rail; they hold a 55% share in the club, in partnership with an experienced car club operator. This initiative has already boosted public transport use; of the 83% of car club members who are season ticket holders, 12% are new customers and 6% reconsidered giving up their season ticket when the use of a car was added to their mobility options.
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