NEWS RELEASE from Transform Scotland Trust
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PHOTO OPPORTUNITY
St Giles Street, Edinburgh EH1, at 12:30 on Monday.
NEW REPORT: GETTING TO 25,000 CAR CLUB MEMBERS BY 2015
The future for car clubs in Scotland laid out as City Car Club unveil new hybrid cars for their Edinburgh fleet
The Transform Scotland Trust is today (Monday 13th) setting out how car clubs can become widespread across Scotland. The report finds that, should action be taken now, car club membership in Scotland could expand from 3,500 today to 25,000 by 2014/15.
The Trust's new research, 'Developing Car Clubs in Scotland', is being launched on the same day that City Car Club, operators of Edinburgh's flourishing car club, are unveiling the addition of new Toyota Prius hybrid cars to their Edinburgh car club fleet. The report is available at http://www.transformscotland.org.uk/GetFile.aspx?ItemId=279
Professor Stephen Stradling, Chair of the Transform Scotland Trust, said:
"Our research points the way forward for car clubs to become a reality for people across Scotland. We have identified what is required for both commercial car clubs to flourish in our larger towns and cities, and for the creation of co-operative or voluntary schemes in smaller communities. We have also set out the modest budget and the local, regional and national support needed for the further development of car clubs in Scotland.
"We know that the Scottish transport minister Stewart Stevenson is personally keen to see the expansion of car clubs, and we hope that our research presents a clear way forward for the Minister and his colleagues in local government to make car clubs commonplace in Scotland."
Stewart Stevenson, Minister for Transport, Infrastructure and Climate Change welcomed the introduction of the hybrid vehicle to the Edinburgh City Car Club and the publication of the Transform Scotland Trust report:
"Scotland has the most ambitious climate change legislation anywhere in the world and our climate change delivery plan means persuading drivers to use more sustainable forms of transport. We commend the investigations of Transform Scotland Trust to produce a report that indicates clearly the scope for enlargement of the car club sector in Scotland and I also welcome the commitment by Edinburgh City Car Club to introduce hybrid vehicles to the fleet with carbon emissions reduction and improve air quality."
Chas Ball, author of the Transform Scotland Trust report, said:
"Car clubs are one of the most cost effective transport measures available to policy makers to reduce carbon emissions. But they also bring economic benefit, as members of car clubs can save between £1,000 and £3,500 per year over the cost of car ownership.
"Car clubs encourage a switch to public transport, walking and cycling and result in a reduction in car use and at least fifteen cars taken off the road for each car added to the fleet. They also encourage the use of lower carbon, cleaner vehicles than the cars people give up to join car clubs.
"Worldwide expansion of shared and pooled cars is set to grow rapidly and become increasingly important to car manufacturers as electric cars and plug in hybrids enter the market and are increasingly used by people through car-sharing clubs rather than direct ownership."
Keith Stark, manager of City Car Club in Scotland, said:
"Edinburgh City Car Club has continued to grow impressively and we now have in excess of 3,500 members and will shortly be launching our 100th car to accommodate the increasing demand.
"In order to allow our members to drive the most environmentally responsible cars, we are embarking on a fleet renewal programme which will see the introduction of several ultra-low emitting Toyota Prius T3 hybrid cars with sub 100g/km."
On Monday, we will have representatives from existing car club operators (Keith Stark from City Car Club), local government (City of Edinburgh Council's transport committee convener Cllr. Gordon Mackenzie) and a small community group looking to implement a car club (Morag Haddow from Sustaining Dunbar).
The research project was supported by Hitrans, SEStran, SWestrans and Tactran (four of Scotland's seven regional transport partnerships), Co-operative Development Scotland, ScotRail and the Scottish Government.
ENDS
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I assume they will be willing to talk to 'members of the public'.
I don't know how long people/cars will be there - I don't expect a media scrum.
Might be worth asking if there are any plans to put in similar effort/money into creating a bike hire scheme for Edinburgh - same objectives - reduce need/desire for car use and improve 'transport mix'.
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