Car club eases city gridlock

The club, based in Hanover, already has 24 members and three cars in the fleet.

Each vehicle has its own dedicated parking bay and can be booked over the internet at 15 minutes' notice.

Members who use the cars - two Vauxhall Corsas and an Astra - are charged according to how long they book for.

The success of Brighton and Hove City Car Club, launched in October, has resulted in plans to extend it to other areas of the city.

It is proving to be a welcome option for motorists who face increasing gridlock in a city where parking space is at a premium.

The scheme is also in tune with Brighton and Hove City Council's drive to cut car ownership.

More than 72,000 homes in the city have one or more cars.

Simon Bannister, project co-ordinator, said: "We have had interest in starting car clubs in Kemp Town in Brighton and the Brunswick area of Hove.

"People are becoming fed up with having to wait 18 months for a parking permit and are seriously thinking about whether they can get by without owning a car.

"The clubs give them all the advantages of having access to a car when they need it without the bother of paying out to own one.

"In Hanover, we have reduced the number of cars by nine. Six of those are where people already owned a car but have got rid of it since they joined the club. The remaining three are people who were going to buy a car but decided they did not need to after joining us."

A car-share scheme is included as part of plans to redevelop the former Endeavour Motors site at Preston Park, Brighton, as flats.

Similar clubs will almost certainly be included in plans for hundreds of new flats at the King Alfred, Hove, and the Gateway project on the former Flexer Sacks factory in Portslade.

They will be based on the scheme set up by the Hanover Community Association with money from the National Lottery's New Opportunities Fund and match-funding from the council. There were also contributions from Brighton and Hove Bus and Coach Company and estate agent Barrie Alderton.

The project is run by Smart Moves, a national car-share company which operates similar clubs in London, Bristol, Edinburgh and Leeds.

In Europe, car clubs were introduced in the late Eighties and resulted in cities such as Bremen in Germany having 700 fewer vehicles on its streets. In Munich, home to car giant BMW, there are 2,000 drivers who belong to car-share schemes.

Smart Moves provides the cars and pays for them to be serviced, taxed and insured and also includes breakdown cover. The council has allocated marked car club bays for them in Windmill Street, Whichelo Place and Islingword Road so members know exactly where to find them when they want to use them.

They can also claim discounts with rail and bus companies, cycle hire from Sydney Street Bikes and with Budget Car Rental if they need to use a car for more than a few days.

Mr Bannister, who runs Smart Moves' Brighton office, said: "Our members include mums with young children who only need a car to drop their children off at youth clubs or for weekly shopping trips and people who work from home who only need occasional use of a car.

"There are also benefits for the city as a whole as the club helps to reduce traffic and pollution as well as cutting the number of cars looking for parking spaces.

"We expect up to seven cars will be disposed of by their owners for every club car we provide as a result of them joining the scheme.

"We want to encourage people to reduce their dependency on the car and to look at alternative ways of getting around Brighton and Hove. Having the use of a car club vehicle would be part of a package of choices available which includes public transport and alternative means such as cycling."

Amanda Brace, 39, decided to sell her Nissan Micra after joining the scheme in December.

As chair of Hanover Community Centre she was one of the team that set up the car-share project and put in the bids for the £250,000 needed to cover the running costs for the next three years. After that, the scheme is expected to become self-financing.

Miss Brace, a policy officer with the Campaign to Protect Rural England, works from her home in Toronto Terrace, Brighton.

She said: "One of the cars is almost always available when I need it for trips out or to go shopping. It is a lot cheaper and a lot less hassle than owning a car. That is part of the reason I got rid of mine.

"It saves me more than £500 a year in running costs and is more environmentally friendly. There are days when I can look out over Brighton from here and see a cloud of pollution sitting over The Level and the Old Steine caused by traffic.

"Club members can book a car either by calling a central number or over the internet.

"We have electronic keys which give us access to the car during the period it is booked for and there is always a dedicated parking space for us to use which, so far, nobody else tries to park in.

"I have used it for trips out on to the South Downs and if I want to go to somewhere like Bristol or Edinburgh, I can use cars belonging to clubs in those cities."

Brighton and Hove City Council is keen to promote car-share clubs as a way of cutting the number of vehicles. Councillor Simon Battle, spokesman for transport, said: "The council has supported this initiative from the start with matching funding and dedicated on-street parking spaces. I am sure the success of the car club in Hanover will spread to other parts of the city.

"The council is progressing the idea by encouraging developers to include car-share schemes in new large developments.

"Joining a car club gives all the advantages of access to a car while at the same time helping to reduce the number of cars on-street.

"Being a car club member makes people think about the best way to travel and many have found other modes of transport, such as taking the bus or cycling, are sometimes quicker and more convenient than using the car."

For further information on setting up a car club, contact Simon Bannister at Smart Moves on 01273 766666 or simon@smartmoves.co.uk