Carplus Annual Survey of Car Clubs in London A4 AW.indd

Car clubs in London
Changing the way Londoners travel
There are 186,000 car club members in London, using 2,800 cars. Car clubs in
London have been established for more than 10 years, however, recently new forms
of car sharing have become available – with the launch of flexible and one-way car
club operators in several boroughs.
The increase in car club use alongside public transport, taxis,
walking and cycling is becoming more pronounced as services
grow and diversify.
Case Study
Car club members are generally early adopters, almost all have
smartphones and over 50% of them access transport apps on a
daily basis.
Andrew Phillips is a well-travelled architect living in
London. What started as a practical solution when
his sports car didn’t quite fit the people or things he
wanted to carry has become a super easy way of
getting around.
They are increasingly interested in driving electric vehicles.
The accelerating growth in membership underlines the benefits
of car clubs to London, with over 25,000 privately owned vehicles
removed from the roads as a result of car club membership.
The Benefits of Car Clubs
EFFICIENT USE OF RESOURCES AND SPACE
Cars removed from the roads
or used more efficiently
“Since I joined in 2011 I have sold my car because I didn’t
actually use it enough. The car club omits the liabilities
and bureaucracy of owning a car in London – parking,
congestion charges, maintenance, even fuel costs.”
Andrew and his wife love to travel – sometimes
it’s for work and sometimes for pleasure. The
international growth of the car club family means
they’ve used Zipcar in several US cities.
Occupancy is 2.5
people per car
(average 1.6)
“We had an airport layover in Albuquerque so we
picked up a car on the spur of the moment and
checked out the city. I have to say that the ease of
booking a car on your iPhone and then jumping in
after swiping your membership card is absolutely
genius compared with using a rental car company.”
It’s not all international travel. Day to day, the
couple love walking across London or use taxis,
Uber, buses and tubes. For something further afield
they might drive. The car club car comes in handy
for transporting clothes and furniture to charity
shops and the recycling centre. It also helped when
they decided to make some furniture – and used the
van to go and collect the materials.
“My favourite trips have been early morning trips out
to Heathrow to pick up my wife from an overnight
flight. It’s really nice to be able to do that.”
Each car club car replaces
10.5
vehicles removed from the
road in the last 12 months
25,000
fewer cars.
Which would fill
Car club cars are in use
25%
of the time (average car 5%)
50
football pitches
CAR CLUB MEMBERS
TRAVEL SUSTAINABLY
Car club membership
reduces a Londoner’s
transport carbon
footprint by
Car club vehicles
typically produce
49%
30%
Car club members saved
- CO2
36,000
tonnes of CO2 last year.
CAR CLUB MEMBERS WALK, CYCLE AND USE PUBLIC TRANSPORT MORE:
less CO2 than the
national average car
21% 60% 34%
Joining a car club reduces a Londoner’s
average mileage driven per year by
750miles
of car club
members
are regular
cyclists
of car club
members
regularly use the
underground
of car club
members
regularly travel
by train
(COMPARED TO
11% OF THE LONDON
POPULATION)
(COMPARED TO
40% OF THE LONDON
POPULATION)
(COMPARED TO
18% OF THE LONDON
POPULATION)
About the Carplus
Annual Survey
Car clubs
in the UK
About Carplus
and Bikeplus
The Carplus Annual Survey reports are the
most comprehensive datasets collected
across the car club sector on an annual
basis. Since 2007, they have provided
a comprehensive robust and impartial
evidence base to inform policy and
funding priorities.
There are over 220,000 car club
members with over 3,800 vehicles
across the UK.
Carplus and Bikeplus promote accessible
shared transport including car clubs,
shared bikes, and 2+ car sharing.
Car club members walk, cycle and
use public transport more than the
national average.
For the first time, this year’s report presents
data and analysis on the usage and
impacts of flexible car clubs in London.
Car clubs provide alternatives to car
ownership, reducing the number of
cars on the roads.
We work to change the way people travel
to reduce the environmental impact of
transport and improve access to transport
for all. We support and encourage
measures that promote car clubs, car
sharing, bike sharing and other shared
mobility schemes which complement public
transport, cycling and walking to provide
affordable and flexible travel.
The Carplus Annual Survey for London is
available online at www.carplus.org.uk.
Carplus
Kings House
1 King Street
Leeds
LS1 2HH
t @CarplusTrust
0113 410 5260
[email protected]
www.carplus.org.uk
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and Scotland (no: SC044682)