Car sharing clubs
29 June 2007
A car is thought to be essential for many of us today. However this convenience comes at a price - around £3500 a year in total depending on size, distance travelled etc. Unlike public transport the cost of car travel is not paid for each journey you make. You can pop to the shops or take the kids to school and pay nothing on some trips, but each year you’ll have to arrange and pay for insurance, MOT, road tax, maintenance. It all mounts up and according to UK charity Carplus we only use our cars for an average of 4% of the time. At all other times they sit in a parking space. We spend quite a lot on something we don’t use much.
The idea of a car-sharing club is that rather than having your own car you share with other people in your neighbourhood. Many successful clubs now operate in other parts of the UK. Members who need a car for a few hours (or days) log on to a website or make a phone call to book a car. They pay an hourly charge of around £3 and a mileage charge of around 12p per mile. After use you simply return the car to its designated parking space, lock it and leave it for the next person. All admin hassles like insurance, tax, and MOT are taken care of and each member can save around £160 per month.
Car clubs make the cost of using a car more apparent. Members are more able to compare costs and they may decide to cycle or take a bus or train instead. For every shared car, six personal cars can be taken off the road, which has a dramatic effect on freeing up on-street parking spaces, on congestion and in the reduction of polluting carbon dioxide emissions. Reporter Justin Rowlatt from the BBC’s Newsnight programme has been trying to live a green, low carbon lifestyle. His plan included not using his personal car for a year and he was surprised to find it wasn’t difficult at all. On his blog he writes, “But in all honesty living without a car really isn’t that difficult. Not only that, getting rid of it saves us a small fortune”.
Action 21 is looking into the possibility of setting up a car-sharing club locally. If you may be interested, please send an e-mail to car.club@ntlworld.com.