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Forum 15: Car Clubs and Business Travel

The transition from grey fleet to pool car and car club

Thursday 20th October 2011, 13:45 – 16:30.
NCVO, Regent’s Wharf, 8 All Saints Street, London, N1 9RL.

Carplus is pleased to announce Forum 15: Car Clubs and Business Travel. Delegates will hear from practitioners at various stages of the transition from grey fleet to pool cars and car clubs, and will receive valuable insights into the savings and benefits to be made.

The Forum is free of charge for Carplus members and London Borough representatives. Cost is £50 plus VAT for non-members but also free for those who apply for membership.

Book your place online.

Travel 2020 and Carplus Annual General Meeting

2nd November 2011, 11:30am – 1:00pm, Kia Oval, London

Carplus will hold the Carplus AGM 2011 and seminar, ‘Innovation in the Car Club Sector’, alongside the this year's Travel2020 exhibition and conference.

The seminar will take place from 11:30 and will feature presentations from three speakers followed by a panel discussion. The AGM will follow at 12:30pm. Please note that although the AGM is open to observers, only Carplus members can speak and vote during the proceedings.

The Carplus event is free of charge, however to attend you must register online for the Travel2020 exhibition in order to ensure free entry to the venue.

Book you place online.

UITP Combined Mobility Workshop in London

The Combined Mobility Platform of The International Association of Public Transport (UITP) has now fixed its workshop for 27th February 2012 in Central London.

The workshop will showcase car clubs and bike-sharing in London, the integration of public transport with other modes in Belgium and Germany, and will also feature the presentation of a case study about an innovative taxi-sharing initiative. A technical tour will take place at the end of the day, from 15.30, for those who are interested.

For information about who can attend contact Anna Morgan at Carplus.

New LowCVP Study

A new LowCVP study has demonstrated that by 2030 there will be a substantial fall in the cost of electric or hydrogen vehicles in comparison to conventional cars. 'Influences on the Low Carbon Car Market from 2020-2030' was prepared by Element Energy and produced for, and in collaboration with, LowCVP. Read more.

Car Club Research

We are currently working on updates to the Annual Survey of Car Club Members, which will be made available for car club operators to promote in the autumn, and reported on in Spring 2012. Reports from previous years can be found on the Carplus website.

We are also excited to be undertaking research on the environmental benefits of car clubs in London, in partnership with the Transport Research Laboratory.

Carplus at...

Low Carbon Expo Wales
On 16th and 17th September, Carplus hosted an exhibition stand with City Car Club at the Low Carbon Expo in Cardiff. In addition to making contact with individuals and organisations interested in car clubs in Wales, we had a positive meeting with the Welsh Government. If you are interested in being involved or learning more about car clubs in Wales, please contact Chas Ball or Kate Gifford (0113 234 9299).

Ecovelocity
Chas Ball attended the Metro sponsored Ecovelocity – a low carbon motor show – at Battersea Power Station in early September. Following on from the CENEX Exhibition at a track near Corby the previous day, these two events offered a unique opportunity for test driving the new EVs and other low carbon vehicles.

Developing Car Clubs in Scotland

The fifth car club supported by the Developing Car Clubs in Scotland programme is finally getting into gear. Based in Rothesay on the Isle of Bute, the car club, "Car Bute", will be operated by Fyne Future.

On 12th October, the team from Bute will join other independent operators at a workshop in Glasgow to share early lessons of establishing and growing a car club in a small town.

Carplus welcomes new Car Club Development Officer for Scotland

Carplus has appointed a new car club development officer for Scotland, Matthew Eastwood, who is based in Edinburgh. His role focuses on supporting the growth of car clubs established as part of the Transport Scotland funded Developing Car Clubs in Scotland Programme – particularly those now operating in market towns and rural communities. He is also co-ordinating Carplus’ support for the expansion of electric vehicles in the Scottish car club fleet.

Matthew has recently been working on travel plans and fleet management as a freelance transport consultant on behalf of the Energy Saving Trust. Previously, he worked in consultancy for Vipre in Edinburgh as well as for the regional transport partnership NESTRANS and Aberdeenshire Council in Aberdeen.

Opportunity to join the Carplus Board

Carplus is looking to appoint several new Board Members – if you are interested in finding out further details about the role, please contact Anna Morgan.

'Best of both'

Having joined forces last year, the Streetcar and Zipcar teams have been working hard to bring together the two clubs to make one world-class operation. October sees the culmination of this process with all members being brought into one ‘best of both’ club with access to a global fleet but with local service provided by the Wimbledon team.

Commonwheels launches 'social franchising'

As part of Commonwheels' drive to expand the network of car clubs across the country, they now offer communities and groups the mechanism to run their own Commonwheels car club through social enterprise franchising. They have already launched operations in Dunbar and Anstruther in Scotland, Ashton Hayes electric car club and Swindon under this model.

Gloucester car clubs launches

Commonwheels now have cars on the ground across Gloucester City Centre. They have also launched in Carlisle, including a tie-up with Cumbria Unvisited to provide staff and students with car club access.

Like Car Clubs? 'Like' WestWheels

Keep up to date with WestWheels Car Club in Mallaig via facebook, and if you like it, then why not let people know? Find them here.