Making better use of the car

• DfT recognition of importance
  of ‘soft factors’
• But need ‘effective delivery’
• Effectiveness of Car Sharing & Car Clubs?
• Study team:
  - Integrated Transport Planning Ltd.
  - Richard Armitage Transport Consultancy Ltd.
  - Cleary Hughes Associates
  - John Austin

Research

• Qualitative approach
• Closed communities
• Literature Review
• Identification of Case Studies
• Case Study Interviews
• Reporting / Best Practice Guide

Approaches to Car Sharing

• Characterised by:
• a technical approach (i.e. matching process)
• range of toolkit measures
• Determined by:
  - local characteristics
  - aims, objectives and targets
  - available budgets
  - knowledge base

Effectiveness of Car Sharing

• (Lack of) evidence of effectiveness?
• Matching techniques
  - necessary but not sufficient
• Greatest success is delivered when….
  - range of car sharing toolkit measures is delivered
  - car sharing is supported by a wider package of measures branded under a Travel Plan

Effectiveness of Car Sharing (2)

• Most important factors of success are:
  - well-motivated administrator, with good communication skills, time and budget
  - full support from senior management team
  - genuine parking problems on site
  - positive incentives for sharing

Barriers / Weaknesses

• Monitoring how many keep on car sharing
• Sticks and carrots:
  - No sticks: free parking for people not car sharing
  - No incentives (e.g. no guaranteed taxi home)
• Personal data:
  - fears, actual and perceived, about misuse
  - problems with Data Protection legislation
• Security of cars parked on street during day
• Problems with software & matching systems

Some key issues …

• Central Government
  - Tackling social exclusion (e.g. Job Centre Plus)
  - Highways Agency (Influencing Travel Behaviour)
  - LTP2 Guidance
• Local Government
  - Leading by example
  - Development control / travel plans (and penalties)
• Employers
  - Business case / knowledge / parking
  - Whole organisation involvement
• Providers of matching services & software:
  - Reliable data on outcomes
  - Guarantees about personal data security

Looking ahead

• Full research findings on DfT website
• New techniques, using mobile telephony
  - ‘Just in time’ spontaneity
• Enabling other journeys to be shared:
  - On foot or by bicycle
  - In a taxi
• Mainstream transport planning
• Park and share / HOV / HOT lanes
• Congestion charging exemptions

Approaches to Car Clubs

• Characterised by:
  - Technical approach (i.e. of the operator)
  - Environment/setting
• Determined by:
  - Urban or rural situation
  - Partnership arrangements
  - Quality/options of wider transport network
  - Urban schemes amalgamating?

Effectiveness of Car Clubs

• Relates to delivery of toolkit measures:
  - role of a champion and/or the coordinator
  - strong brand and good marketing
  - critical mass of initial users
  - designated parking bays, properly enforced
  - funding income-expenditure start-up gap
  - effective partnerships
  - provision of a suitable number of vehicles
• Clear(er) development patterns in urban areas
• Evidence of fewer miles by car, disposal of second or even first car, & greater use of non-car modes of travel

Barriers / Weaknesses

• Personal and cultural:
  - life changes
  - clear understanding of travel costs
  - tariffs and technical issues: new territory
• Financial:
  - start-up investment
  - credit-worthiness of operator
• Early days syndrome:
  - insurance, parking, in-car ICT

Some key issues …

• Conditions in which car clubs can flourish
• Central Government
  - standards (e.g. signs, planning process)
  - LTP2 guidance
• Local Government
  - car clubs one-off investment not revenue
  - Councils’ own staff pool car requirements
  - on-street parking & TROs (IHIE Guidance?)
  - planning (development control &
  land use)

Some key issues (2) …

• On the ground:
  - good quality public transport
  - integrated smart card applications
• Car club operators
  - part of public transport, not car rental
  - forcing ICT to deliver
• CarPlus
• Car industry
• Development industry

Understanding change …

• Car sharing:
  - mechanistic approach will fail or be slow & weak
  - buying-in external matching services unlikely to deliver on its own
  - no data on use, no understanding, no progress
     (methods for fixing this problem identified)
  - this is not just a technical fix, it is about lifestyle changes
  - to motivate employers, make the business case

Reacting to change …

• What converts awareness into action?
  - car sharing = face-to-face contact
  - car clubs = change in life circumstances
• To speed up rate of change, need to translate non-user benefits into hard cash for higher rates of investment in car sharing and car clubs
• In the meantime, cannot stress too much the importance of the
  champions and coordinators

Maximising the impact

• Direct confirmation of other research:
  - Making Travel Plans Work (2003)
  - Smarter Choices (2004)
• Implement all ‘soft measures’ properly, with any necessary ‘hard measures’, to secure significantly less car dependency
• Denzil Coombe: need to lock in the gains from both traffic management and demand management (Local Transport Today,
  7 October 2004)