Car clubs deliver economic benefit, claims MRTU research for Carplus

Shared transport approaches such as car clubs provide economic as well as environmental benefits, according to new research from sustainable transport charity Carplus shows

Car clubs enable people to share rather than own vehicles. It is estimated that across the UK around 200,000 people belong to car clubs, which with over 3,000 cars.

Carplus said that the strategic benefits of car clubs have been recognised for some time. It commissioned The Economic Benefits of Car Clubs report to enable the calculation of economic benefits using government guidelines for economic appraisal.

The research, written by Keith Buchan of Metropolitan Transport Research Unit (MTRU), shows that car clubs can be an extremely wise investment, with benefit to cost ratios of up to 35:1.

The benefit cost ratio analysis tool was used to assess six key projects that form part of the Developing Car Clubs in England Programme, and showed that benefits outweighed costs for all projects over both 5 and 30 year time frames.

Larger schemes in urban areas tended to show stronger benefits than smaller rural ones, but that both were economically beneficial. For urban car clubs in large conurbations the BCRs over a five-year period range between 2.83:1 and 5.71:1 and over a 30-year period range between 17.68:1 and 35.53:1.

Carplus said the publication provides tools for project partners to evaluate the potential benefits for future projects or assess the actual economic benefits of existing car club schemes.

Car clubs provide members with access to vehicles without the hassles and expense of ownership, such as tax, MOT, fuel, servicing, repairs, depreciation and parking. Carplus claims members who drive less than 6-8,000 miles per year then a car club can save up to £3,500 a year.

The Carplus Annual Survey for England and Wales has demonstrated that car club schemes reduce car ownership, increase the proportion of low emission vehicles on the roads, help improve air quality and reduce CO₂ emissions.

www.carplus.org.uk 

Car club benefits

• 65% of car club members travel less than 500 miles in the past 12 months.
• Car club members walk, cycle and use public transport more than the UK population
•  A car club car saves on average 0.80 tonnes of carbon per year
• Across the UK the car club fleet saves over 2,700 tonnes of carbon per year – the equivalent of 886 return flights from London to Sydne
• Car club vehicles in England and Wales typically produce around 33% less carbon than the national average car

Source: Carplus Annual Survey for England and Wales 2013/14