London Borough of Islington – Streetcar
The London Borough of Islington appointed Streetcar as their sole operator of car clubs in 2006. At the time there were 23 cars and less than 200 members in the borough. A single-operator tender was used both to ensure that residents had access to the maximum amount of bays possible but also to allow local authority and operator to work in close partnership to make the scheme a success.
Three years on, Islington is now seen as the flagship car club scheme in the country. Streetcar membership in Islington stands now at just over 7,500 with 145 cars currently on-street in the borough. What the borough has demonstrated is that, where a Local Authority works closely with their chosen operator as a partner rather than just a supplier, the results can be outstanding. Islington now has plans to continue to grow their car club network to 500 car club bays by 2012 with membership of over 20,000 – in turn, the scheme will have taken thousands of cars off the road, cut CO2 levels in the borough dramatically and created modal change away from private car ownership in an unprecedented way.
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Edinburgh – City Car Club
Edinburgh City Car Club is operated by City Car Club Ltd (formerly Smart Moves) in partnership with the City of Edinburgh Council. It currently has over 80 cars and about 2500 members (January 2008). It offers pay as you use cars for members located mainly on street all over central Edinburgh.
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Oxford Community Car Club
A local scheme bears fruit and generates new interest in the region.
Commonwheels was approached by a representative of a low carbon group in East Oxford following the launch of our car club in Reading, in June 2008. The group were keen to establish a car club in their community to provide a means of reducing its carbon footprint and also to assist with parking congestion.
In November 2008, a community based car club was launched by Commonwheels in partnership with the local group. The Oxford members had contributed loans to the value of £9k to help establish the scheme and four individuals had loaned their cars to the scheme. The fleet was supplemented by two new VW Polo Blue Motion cars (Band A – 99g/km) provided by Commonwheels, who had also supplied marketing materials.
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Leeds City Council
Leeds City Council provided key day time use of the local club as a sustainable business travel option for staff. Smartcards are held on a group and individual basis for high users, and for staff who use City Car Club (formerly WhizzGo) for personal as well as business use. The car club is most efficient for journeys that are higher in mileage and shorter in time duration. As a result of significant savings – using the car club means that employees don’t have to claim back daily city centre parking fees of £7.50 – Leeds City Council is due to roll out the scheme corporately. Leeds City Council also carried out research to show the carbon savings from reduced staff commuting by car.
