Return home
Return home4.2. Shared car use
Learn about car share schemes and how they can reduce your grey fleet mileage, cost and emissions. Find out about car clubs, pool cars and read case studies from Arup UK, York Council and North Ayrshire Council.
Car share schemes
Employee car sharing is an effective way to reduce grey fleet mileage, costs and emissions.
By sharing a vehicle rather than making separate journeys, employees can reduce the distance driven, along with the associated costs and carbon emissions.
Car sharing can encourage more sustainable travel behaviour and support modal shift, particularly when combined with active travel options.
It can also help alleviate parking pressures at sites where parking spaces are limited or costly.
-
The Arup office in Solihull had limited parking available, which led to daily issues including double parking and vehicles obstructing emergency access routes. To address this, Arup partnered with Liftshare to introduce a car-sharing scheme at the site.
Employees who participate in car sharing are guaranteed a parking space and receive priority parking over single-occupancy vehicles.
Vehicles can be registered with the scheme, and shared journeys are recorded. In total, 83% of Arup employees signed up to the Liftshare scheme, and 56% have since shared at least one commute.
Arup also introduced a shuttle bus service from the local railway station. Combined with the car-sharing scheme, this reduced demand for parking spaces and resolved the site’s double-parking issues.
Liftshare estimates that, over four years, members of the scheme saved 764,000 grey fleet miles. This resulted in estimated cost savings of £80,400 and a reduction of approximately 151 tonnes of CO2.
-
The hospital had limited parking capacity for its 4,000 employees. To help address parking pressures, the NHS Foundation Trust implemented a scheme through Liftshare. Before the scheme was introduced, 3,600 staff held permits for just 1,800 parking spaces, two-thirds of which were intended for patient use.
The trust increased workplace parking charges from £5 per month to £1 per day and restricted parking access to six days in every 10 working days, excluding weekends. At the same time, staff were encouraged to car share and use active travel or public transport. As a result of these measures, an average of 250 additional parking spaces became available each day.
Car clubs
Car clubs can help reduce your organisation’s CO2e emissions and costs.
There are several models for using car clubs. These range from dedicated vehicles reserved for employee use to integrated schemes where vehicles are available to both employees and the public. Car clubs can help reduce reliance on both grey fleet and organisation-owned vehicles.
Advantages of using car clubs include:
- Lower CO2e emissions per kilometre, as car club vehicles tend to be newer and have lower emissions.
- Access to a wider range of vehicles, allowing employees to choose the most suitable and efficient vehicle for each journey. For example, larger vehicles can be used only when required, with smaller and more efficient vehicles used for routine trips.
- Vehicle maintenance, safety inspections and cleaning are typically included, reducing the need for internal fleet management.
- Reduced administration, as most car clubs use booking software that allows users to reserve vehicles directly.
- A smaller fleet requirement, as shared vehicles can replace individually allocated vehicles.
- Reduced risk and improved duty of care, as employees no longer need to use personal vehicles for business travel. This helps ensure staff are driving newer vehicles with higher safety standards and adequate insurance cover, while also reducing personal vehicle wear and insurance costs.
- Access to telematics data, which is commonly available on car club vehicles. This can help organisations monitor vehicle use, understand driving patterns and simplify mileage claims.
- Reduced wear and tear on employees’ personal vehicles and
-
Following a fleet review in 2015, North Ayrshire Council identified an opportunity to reduce travel-related emissions by targeting its grey fleet. The council partnered with Enterprise to introduce six car club vehicles, increasing the fleet to 25 vehicles by 2021. Combined with the implementation of the sustainable transport hierarchy, this helped reduce grey fleet mileage by around one-third.
During the 2019/20 financial year, car club vehicles travelled 275,868 miles, of which 35,963 miles (13%) were completed using battery electric vehicles. Over the same period, grey fleet mileage fell to 820,910 miles, down from more than 1,115,000 miles in 2018/19.
In addition to reducing costs and CO2e emissions, the car club provided staff with real-world experience of driving electric vehicles without requiring North Ayrshire Council to purchase them directly. This demonstrates how access to electric vehicles can improve driver confidence and acceptance while also reducing reliance on an organisation’s owned fleet.
-
A lack of public transport options meant that staff often used personal vehicles for business travel. To address this, Highland Council introduced a car club through Enterprise, deploying 60 vehicles across 21 sites in 2018.
This reduced the council’s grey fleet mileage by more than 800,000 miles in the car club’s first year of operation. Since 2018, the scheme has saved Highland Council £900,000 in travel costs and reduced CO2e emissions by 649 tonnes (37%).
-
Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust (NSFT) partnered with Hiyacar to optimise its pool car fleet, reducing both costs and emissions.
NSFT operated a pool fleet of 110 vehicles, ranging from Seat Mii Electric cars to Ford Transit vans, spread across 22 locations in rural and urban areas.
To make vehicle sharing easier, staff use Hiyacar’s booking platform and keyless vehicle access technology. Hiyacar also provides a fleet management platform, HiyaFleet, which helps organisations manage vehicles more efficiently.
Since partnering with Hiyacar, NSFT has achieved:
- A reduction of 18.91 tonnes of CO2 emissions.
- A 33% increase in vehicle utilisation.
- Estimated savings of £53,000 in the first year.
- A 29% reduction in grey fleet mileage.
By analysing fleet data, Hiyacar helped NSFT optimise the size of its pool car fleet and encourage greater vehicle sharing among staff. The partnership also identified opportunities for cost savings and supported the transition to electric vehicles, helping NSFT meet its sustainability objectives.
“Hiyacar’s platform has significantly enhanced our vehicle management and streamlined interdepartmental sharing. Hiyacar has truly revolutionised the way the trust uses pool vehicles, making our fleet management more efficient and helping reduce grey fleet mileage.”
Elliott Semmence, Transport Manager, Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust
-
The Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (Dstl), an executive agency of the Ministry of Defence, began partnering with Enterprise in 2022 and now operates one of the largest business car club fleets in the UK.
Dstl wanted to reduce the environmental impact of its business travel. To achieve this, it deployed almost 100 Enterprise Car Club vehicles across three sites in Wiltshire and Hampshire, reducing the need for vehicle deliveries and collections. Between February 2022 and January 2023, this reduced business travel by 372,000 miles and cut supply chain emissions by more than 100 tonnes of CO2e.
The on-site car club includes an increasing number of electric vehicles. By ensuring vehicles are always available for business travel, the scheme encourages employees to commute by public transport. Employees can use the Enterprise Travel Direct (ETD) platform across multiple devices to make bookings and view real-time vehicle availability.
Employees can also use the ETD platform to hire vehicles through Enterprise Rent-A-Car and the on-street Enterprise Car Club network. This helps meet travel requirements that cannot be served by the on-site fleet or during periods of high demand. The platform also helps employees select the most cost-effective and environmentally sustainable travel option.
All vehicles in the dedicated car club are equipped with telematics technology, providing detailed data on vehicle usage, mileage and emissions. Dstl uses this information for reporting and to identify journeys that could be completed using electric vehicles, helping to inform future fleet replacement decisions and support more sustainable business travel.
“The emissions savings resulting from the expansion of our dedicated Enterprise Car Club programme exemplify the immense potential of business car clubs in driving positive environmental change.”
John Barber, Principal Estates Contract Manager, Dstl
If you want to learn more about Enterprise Car Club and alternatives to grey fleet travel, visit the Enterprise website.
Pool cars
Pool cars are vehicles that an organisation owns or leases and makes available for use by multiple employees. Unlike car clubs, pool cars are managed directly by the organisation rather than by a third-party provider.
-
In 2012, the City of York Council set up a trial of five pool vehicles through the WeCar scheme to reduce employee-owned vehicle use for business travel.
The scheme allowed employees to book vehicles online using membership cards. The same cards were used to unlock vehicles, removing the need to manage physical keys.
Since introducing the scheme, the council has transferred 40% of private car use to shared pool vehicles. It has also expanded the scheme to 22 vehicles, with eight dedicated to council use and 14 operated as a public-facing car club.
Alongside the scheme, the council increased its focus on the sustainable transport hierarchy by providing training for staff. It also reduced the grey fleet reimbursement rate from 52p to 32p per mile. Together, these measures reduced grey fleet mileage by 26% and saved the council almost £100,000 in 2013.
