http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ CityCyclingEdinburgh Forum » Topic: City car club is no more en Fri, 22 May 2026 00:27:49 +0000 http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=16368#post-219407 Tue, 10 May 2016 14:34:49 +0000 acsimpson 219407@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>I'm not a member, primarily because their rental bays have always been too far from where I live. I am a semi-regular enterprise customer though and have nothing but praise for their customer service, often going out of their way to be helpful.</p> <p>I don't know what deal the council has with them but don't see why the car parking spaces they are offered would be any different to another commercial deal such as JC Decaux's advertising spaces. They presumably make a profit from the advertising deals but I have never heard of it described as a subsidy.</p> <p>As Stephan says they are also providing us with a service by keeping even more cars off the road.</p> <p>Incidentally I am fairly certain that all their branches are owned and operated by Enterprise (plc?) rather than being a franchise model. </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=16368#post-219390 Tue, 10 May 2016 11:35:16 +0000 SRD 219390@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>Sorry if I made a big deal about nothing. We saw that the city car club parking near us had been removed and were confused. Because we didn't know enterprise had a car share scheme and had bought them out, we didn't know what was going on. </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=16368#post-219387 Tue, 10 May 2016 11:26:12 +0000 Stephan Matthiesen 219387@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>I'm not sure what to think about it. My spontaneous feeling was also rather reserved, but then I don't really see a rational reason for expecting problems.</p> <p>The City Car Club (as I understood) was a commercial company already, not a charity or something. Now a medium-sized company is bought by a large one, that happens all the time and I'm not sure why this should specifically be an issue here. </p> <p>Do they really get "subsidies", or is it just a commercial deal between company and council? The council benefits and saves money as they reduce the demand for parking. A lot of other council activities are also contracted out to commercial companies. Cycle lanes are also built by big international construction consortia, not the local council workman. </p> <p>In any case, providing hire cars is not a council service, but a commercial activity.</p> <p>I can't see any ethical issues here other than one may not like big companies in general.</p> <p>A practical concern may be that the service or usefulness suffers, but why should it? Enterprise has been successful in car hire so they should be able to handle hiring out cars (I would be worried if it was bought by L'Oreal to park their money or something without actual interest / competence in the business).</p> <p>So I'm not sure what the fuss is about at the moment. </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=16368#post-219379 Tue, 10 May 2016 10:17:50 +0000 jonty 219379@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>If you care in the slightest - looks like first I heard was an email on April 1st 2015 (maybe you ignored it based on the date?!) entitled "Important message from City Car Club’s Managing Director." Do you get the monthly newsletter? It's been mentioned a few times in that too - perhaps you did opt out. </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=16368#post-219366 Tue, 10 May 2016 09:13:28 +0000 SRD 219366@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>dunno. we've searched all the possible places email might be. maybe we opted out of this sort of email contact when we joined? puzzling, but glad others were aware. </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=16368#post-219362 Tue, 10 May 2016 08:45:23 +0000 fimm 219362@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>We are also members, and also were informed some time ago. </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=16368#post-219356 Tue, 10 May 2016 00:23:14 +0000 jonty 219356@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>As a member I too was informed quite a few months ago. I was a bit surprised as I'd basically assumed it was a nonprofit or something, given how much public space is devoted to their cars. </p> <p>Is it a franchise system or has the council basically just promised a whole bunch of parking spaces to an international corporation? </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=16368#post-219354 Tue, 10 May 2016 00:00:39 +0000 rbrtwtmn 219354@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>Am also a member - to back up other messages, we were fully informed about this change and I've not noticed anything substantial change in my experience of the club yet. </p> <p>I have no (intelligent/thought out) views on the longer term future or what this means for that. Perhaps others have?? </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=16368#post-219329 Mon, 09 May 2016 20:47:57 +0000 SRD 219329@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>@donnymurdo - do you get a commission or something? </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=16368#post-219328 Mon, 09 May 2016 20:44:59 +0000 donnymurdo 219328@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>Hi guys, I'm a member of the, now Enterprise Car Club, in fact I've been there from the start when it was Edinburgh Car Club. The take over was announced a long time ago. The car club have rarely made a big fuss on the media so it is no surprise that this has caught a few folk out. All members have been informed. The manager for Scotland when I spoke with him at a promotional stand in Ingleston months ago said he was excited and optimustic about the take over. </p> <p>All the booking systems in the short term will stay the same. </p> <p>The only difference I have noticed is location of the new cars being introduced. To the outsider it apoears random but they have in the past had a strict criteria for placement of new bays for cars.</p> <p>There is an increading number if electric cars in the fleet with a maddively reduced milage charge which reflects the lower cost of fuel and dare I say it the reduced amount of energy electric cars use.</p> <p>Having said all this , the vans have been a fantastic addition to the fleet. You can get up to 11 bicycles (easily) into the back (13 if you are willing to spend half an hour carfully slotting the last two in). </p> <p>If you are about to sell your car and you are thinking of joining the club then I think you will not tegret it. All the members I have spoken with at the AGM in Edinburgh each year all say they love it. </p> <p>Car clubs are definitely a roll in the right direction. Of course you'd be better cycling everywhere and using public transport but if you have to drive then drive one of these. </p> <p>Happy Driving </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=16368#post-219324 Mon, 09 May 2016 20:31:19 +0000 LaidBack 219324@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>On a more minor note:<br /> They are lined up to be involved with SEStran Commuter Challenge so need to see how this affects things.<br /> First thing is that it's good news for printers an designers as we have to reprint a correx panel with new logo. </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=16368#post-219323 Mon, 09 May 2016 20:27:14 +0000 SRD 219323@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>I recall a community council member with connections to the car rental sector whinging on and on about the car clubs getting council subsidies and parking spaces etc. if there are subsidies (as compared to a deal for council employees to use their vehicles for work/discounted membership), then it's a lot harder to justify when run by enterprise. </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=16368#post-219321 Mon, 09 May 2016 20:23:16 +0000 Stickman 219321@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>Interesting, as this month's council Finance Committee has a report recommending extending the deal with City Car Club </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=16368#post-219320 Mon, 09 May 2016 20:21:25 +0000 unhurt 219320@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>Hrm. I have been thinking about selling my car and joining but I suppose I'll wait and see what they do with it first. </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=16368#post-219319 Mon, 09 May 2016 20:20:27 +0000 Stephan Matthiesen 219319@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>@SRD I got a member email about the takeover, about 2 or 3 weeks ago. </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=16368#post-219317 Mon, 09 May 2016 20:03:51 +0000 SRD 219317@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>To be less apocalyptic, I should have said 'city car club is now enterprise car club', but to be fair, we weren't sure what had happened at at. </p> <p>MR SRD had noticed a gradual rebranding and Google comes up with this: </p> <p>"There’s a significant shift in the car club operator landscape as Enterprise Rent-A-Car, the world’s largest vehicle rental business, announced the acquisition of City Car Club, Britain’s biggest independent car sharing company."</p> <p>Bit odd that we've seen nothing media nor from them, although we're members. </p>