Car Clubs / Car Sharing Research Project

Car Share and Car Clubs: Potential Impacts
(Final Report)

1. Introduction

The current project was established to assess a variety of policy questions with regard to car clubs and car sharing. The work was seen to include a number of tasks:

• To identify through a literature review (plus correspondence and phone calls) examples of schemes overseas and identify the factors underlying their success of failure.
• To assess the scope of car sharing and car clubs for improving personal access to jobs, goods and services (with particular attention paid to the implications for rural area and minority groups, including young drivers, those with mobility problems and ethnic communities).
• To identify barriers to further take-up and effective development in England and recommend measures to encourage further schemes in ways which support the Government's integrated transport and sustainable development objectives.
• To consider the financial implications of such schemes, with particular emphasis on any cost savings to users of such schemes should they give up ownership of a car but also including any other affected groups, such as public transport operators.
• To consider the scope for pilot projects or demonstration studies and provide recommendations for further work to identify schemes which might be promoted by DTLR and/or The Motorists' Forum.

The contract was awarded in June 2001. The work was divided into four phases. During Phase One information was gathered from published sources, interviews were undertaken with experts and professionals in the field, and the general public were consulted through interviews, questionnaires and a focus group. During Phase Two the information gathered was analysed and assessed to identify key themes and factors influencing the operating environment, and in order to specify potential policy interventions. Four of these policy interventions were assessed in greater detail during Phase Three and the findings from the work were brought together and presented in a Final Report during Phase Four.

This Report begins with a summary of the findings from the literature review and interviews. The next section examines the costs and other key factors affecting the environment in which car clubs and car sharing must operate. This is followed by our conclusions on the potential role of car sharing and car clubs. A list of potential policy interventions is then presented and discussed. The final section presents the results of our more detailed investigations of four topics selected by the Steering Group.

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