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CARSHARING/EUROPE:
MOBILITY PACKAGES
source: www.carsharing.org
www.greenhouse.gov.au/tdm/
publications/pubs/carsharing-dec
04.pdf
www.communauto.com/abonnes/
SperlingShaheenW.html
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As specialists, carsharing organisations tend to manage fleets more effectively than a company with a different core business…- employees can also usually book their car mobility through the CSO for business trips in other cities. If a company also encourages employees to travel to work by bicycle or public transport, carsharing provides for instances where employees need a car (for example, when working late). In transport demand management terms, business carsharing provides a ‘guaranteed employee ride home’ scheme. Workplaces, hotels and major trip generators such as universities have seasonal demand patterns for cars. By serving both types of client (individuals and businesses), the CSO can maximise the use of the vehicle fleet they own;
- in Switzerland, more than 800 companies, administrative bodies and associations contract with a CSO and drive Mobility® motor vehicles, saving on purchase, insurance, repair and maintenance costs. In Bremen, the city administration (local government) is replacing any vehicles in its fleet with less than 10,000 km annual mileage, with staff access to carsharing; (1)
- the city of Göteborg will have one of the largest carpools in Sweden after the procurement offer from the Göteborg based company SunFleet Carsharing. The business deal involves 30 environmental cars, which will be at the local government employees’ disposal from June 2004. Today SunFleet Carsharing has 7 established carpools in western Sweden and negotiations are ongoing with companies and organisations in the Stockholm and Malmö areas. (2)
Carsharing provides much more value to users if they have easy access to other services as well... - the best example of an innovative umbrella organisation to provide information and assist coordination is Autodate, which offers a variety of services to 90,000 individuals in the Netherlands. The organisation also facilitates linkages between private carsharing services and other businesses (e.g., taxi companies and car rental agencies), and promotes the use of shared-vehicle management in land development (e.g., establishment of carsharing in new residential areas);
- most large CSOs have partnered with local transit suppliers, and several with rail companies and national car clubs. A German CSO, StadtAuto Bremen, with 1,700 carsharing members and 80 vehicles, launched a transit pass program in June 1998 that links the city’s transit pass to the CSO’s smart auto card;
- Drive Stadtauto, Germany’s largest CSO with more than 7,500 members in Berlin, Potsdam, Cottbus, Rostock and Hamburg, has its Mobil Card. Carsharing members use this card to access an expanded set of services and discounts. The card provides a 15% cost reduction on public transport, allows users to take taxis without exchanging cash, and can be used to pay for food and beverage home delivery, reserve a bicycle, and even book canoes;
- Mobility CarSharing, Switzerland, recently deployed three new mobility service programs. The first, Zuri Mobil, is a successful mobility package based on a regional public transit offer that also includes carsharing and car rental. The second, Zuger Pass Plus (ZPP), provides a discounted combination of carsharing, public transit, car rental, taxi, bicycle, and other non-transport related services for its customers (similar to a frequent flyer program). In 1998, another partnership was launched with the Swiss National Rail System (SBB), offering a mobility package to 1.5 million SBB pass-holders (approximately 35% of the country’s adult population);
- this package provides users with special discounts and easy smart-card access to carsharing vehicles, rental cars, and transit. Starting as a pilot project in 2001, ‘Easy-Ride Switzerland’ will encompass most Swiss transportation activities, including 500 service companies of rail, bus, taxi, cable car, carsharing, and car rental by 2005. ‘Easy-Ride Switzerland’ will make all services accessible by the same smart card. This will simplify ticketing and marketing and open new options for intermodal trip-making. Almost every public transportation company in Switzerland is a partner in a carsharing mobility package. In the future, this relationship promises to grow even stronger.
(1) Australian Greenhouse Office, “Carsharing: an overview”, Canberra, December 2004.
(2) [ www.sunfleet.com/wpc/news/show_news_eng.aspx?newsid=22&location=1]
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