Car sharing and car clubs

16 April 2012

What is car sharing?

When two or more people arrange to share a car: something many of us do on a regular basis with friends and family without even thinking about it.

Online services such as Liftshare.com and Carpooling.com make it easier to car share. Drivers can search for people to give lifts to, while passengers can search for lifts to any destination in the UK. The cost of the travel is shared.

What are the benefits of car sharing?

Considerable. Reduced costs, reduced congestion and pollution and improved access in areas with limited public transport.

What are the problems we face?

• Traffic has increased by over 60% since 1980.
• Cars are the biggest source of greenhouse gas emissions.
• Congestion costs the UK £19 billion a year.
• Public transport costs are rising.
• Every day there are 10 million empty seats on our roads.

What difference can car sharing make?

• If average car occupancy were to increase by half - with 2.37 persons per car rather than 1.58 - it would lead to a one-third fall in traffic.
• If there was an increase of 10% - with 1.74 persons per car on average - this would reduce traffic on our roads by 9%.
• Over half of drivers would share a car to work if there was someone suitable to travel with.
• A 10% car occupancy rise would reduce congestion by as much as a doubling rail usage.

What is Carpooling.com?

Carpooling.com is the largest carpooling platform in Europe.  It has 3.5 million registered users and transports more than one million people a month. It also offers European carpool options.

What is Liftshare.com?

Liftshare.com is the UK's largest car sharing scheme. Over 500,000 members have joined the network  and about 140 million individual journeys on the central database available for sharing.     Liftshare.com also provides car sharing schemes to over 500 businesses and communities across the country.     

What is a car club?

This is when a group of people share access to a communal car. It's like having a hire car parked in your street for you and your neighbours to use.

You can book a car-share vehicle for as little as an hour and the car should be parked less than a 15 minute walk from your home.

In a car club, you pay for how much you use the car. Joining a car club is a financial winner for low-mileage users and a good alternative for families considering buying a second car.

Sample costs

Typically you would pay a monthly charge of £10 (or £100 per year) and a returnable deposit of £100.

 

An afternoon out, shopping trip or visit to the cinema:

3 hours @ £2.00 = £6.00
10 miles @ 15p per mile including fuel = £1.50 Booking fee (free over the net) = £1.00

Total £8.50

 

A Sunday walk in the country or a business trip during the day:

6 hours @ £2.00 = £12.00
30 miles @15p per mile including fuel = £4.50 Booking fee (free over the net) = £1.00

Total £17.50

Compare this to the average cost - £102 - that motorists pay every week to run a car.

Who runs car clubs?

Car clubs can involve all sorts of different organisations: councils, businesses, bus companies, car-hire companies and neighbourhood groups.

How do I book a car?

Bookings are made over the internet or by phone and there are many ways of accessing the car, usually involving a smartcard.

What about neighbourhood schemes?

The Rusty Vehicle Sharing Group in Leicester began in 1976 with a group of neighbours sharing a rusty vehicle. Now the cars are much better quality and the group has a more formal structure, although it is still essentially a group of neighbours.

What are the advantages of car clubs?

Car clubs offer a good fit between businesses that want vehicles for day-time use and individuals who want a vehicle for weekend shopping or going out.

Most trips by car are local journeys of less than five miles. When you own a car, the majority of your costs are fixed and petrol costs form a low percentage of your overall car costs. Therefore, especially with the car parked outside the door, it is tempting to use the car for journeys that could be made by public transport, walking or cycling.

'Members of a car club have low overheads and pay the full cost of car use each time they use the car, reducing the temptation to use a car unnecessarily for short journeys.

Carplus, the car clubs network

There are currently about 25 car clubs in the UK. This is growing each year. But the UK is still well behind Switzerland, which has a national car-share scheme boasting 43,000 members and 1,700 cars.