Car Club goes into overdrive

Ambitious plans for a fivefold expansion of a public car hire scheme have been revealed less than a week after it launched.

Cardiff council has begun work to increase the number of City Car Club vehicles from 10 to 50 in the new year.

The £120,000 Assembly Government-funded scheme, designed to ease congestion, is the latest initiative under the £30m Sustainable Travel City project, which has also resulted in 45 free bikes stationed around the city.

The 10 existing City Car Club vehicles - two hybrid petrol and electric Toyota Prius models and eight new low-emission Ford Fiestas - have been available to the public since last Thursday. They were used a total of 20 times, or twice each, in the first five days and have covered a total of 224 miles.

In contrast the OYBikes were used seven times each, or a total of 300 times, in the first six months, resulting in them being branded a flop.

Cardiff council hopes the availability of the cars in and around the city centre will encourage people to consider giving up their own car, freeing up spaces and easing traffic congestion across the city.

Executive member for transport Delme Bowen told the Echo he believed the cars were an "easier sell" to the public than the bikes.

He said work had already begun to identify new locations for the extra cars, but some new vehicles may be available in the new year.

"We would like to aim for about 50 sites for the cars," said Councillor Bowen.

"What's nice about this scheme is it signals we are not against the car. We can use them more efficiently and share them and book them when they are needed. It's a positive way of approaching congestion."

City Car Club, a private company, already operates in London, Bath, Bristol, Edinburgh and Glasgow.

It is being funded for an intial two-year period at a cost of £60,000 a year under the joint Cardiff Council and Assembly Government initiative to decrease car use.

Studies by City Car Club carried out in other UK cities have found each car removes 24 privately owned cars from the road.

The company also estimates motorists who ditch their own vehicles and associated MoT, maintenance and depreciation costs, typically save more than £1,500 a year by joining the car club.

Richard Drew, City Car Club manager for Cardiff, said more than 50 people had already signed up to the club.

"The most popular car has been in Sneyd Street, Pontcanna," he said.

"The last launch we did with the same number of cars in Glasgow saw a lot of success, so I think that will be the case here."

Mr Drew said that the initial expansion of the scheme would be in Pontcanna where double parking bays have already been created, but at the moment they are only occupied by single vehicles.

Professor Stuart Cole, of the Wales Transport Research Centre at the University of Glamorgan, said the car club had been a success in Bath because of its popularity among people living in and around the city centre.

He said similar levels of success could be seen in Pontcanna and Cathays.

But he said that less than a week into the scheme, it may be too soon to decide on expansion.

"If I was making the decision on expansion, I wouldn't make the decision now, I would wait and see what the level of demand is.

"If the scheme does discourage people from having cars in central areas then this will be a positive move.

"But if it's encouraging car use then it's not such a good idea."

PhD student Stuart Hanmer, 23, of Sneyd Street, was one of the first to sign up to the car club.

He has used the cars twice so far, once to visit friends and once to go shopping.

"the first time I hired the car for five hours and that was a round trip of around 10 miles.

"I was cooking for some friends in Llandaff, so went via Tesco on the way to their house.

"It's a very good idea provided the car hasn't been booked by someone else.

"But they do say there will be one nearby if the one nearest you isn't available.

"The one annoying thing about Pontcanna is people will park their own cars in the car club bays, so there is not always parking available and you have to find somewhere else close by."

Source: South Wales Echo, 8 Dec 2010