Nottingham City Council’s Car Club is set to add more vehicles and hire sites to its scheme.

In November 2014 the Council was awarded £37.5k by the Department for Transport to help further develop its part in Nottingham’s integrated transport network, expanding the City Car Club fleet from eight locations and nine vehicles to 11 locations and 12 vehicles.

There will be three new neighbourhood hubs introduced at key transport interchanges to offer access to a pool of shared cars, local public transport and Citycard Cycle hire. The Citycard, the Council’s integrated smart ticket currently offers train, tram, bus and bike travel, can also be upgraded to access the City Cars instead of the usual scheme membership card – meaning you can use your Citycard and get off the bus or tram and straight into a City Car.

The three new locations are:
• Forest Recreation Ground Park & Ride
• Queens Drive Park & Ride Eco Hub
• Colwick Racecourse Park & Ride

These sites provide a transport interchange between bus, tram and train bike and the car club vehicles or Citycard cycles. The vehicles are a mix of low emission, hybrid and electric vehicles. The electric car complements the national City Car Club fleet of shared electric vehicles and charging infrastructure. This gives drivers the opportunity to sign up and try more sustainable vehicles.

221 members have joined the City Car Club project in the last year, with members travelling more than 43,000 miles. We know that for many people a car is their preferred travel option.

The City Car Club offers Nottingham residents and businesses the option to use sustainable cars in a flexible way to help reduce congestion and C02 emissions. The scheme is also very effective for those who want to use public transport to get into the city but may also have a short-term need to use a car.
Nottingham has the lowest car ownership rate in the UK, so for many the City Car Club means that people who could not normally afford to buy a car have access to a very competitively priced, greener hire car in the city.

Councillor Nick McDonald, Portfolio Holder for Growth, Jobs and Transport said: “We know that for many people a car is their preferred travel option. The City Car Club offers residents and businesses an option to use more sustainable cars in a flexible way to help reduce congestion and C02 emissions.
“We have worked closely with our business community to offer free memberships and drive time credits during the first year of operation, so City Car Club cars can offer businesses an alternative to grey fleet and pool car usage.”

Dan Gursel, managing director of City Car Club, now part of Enterprise Rent-A-Car, added: “Integrated schemes such as Nottingham show that car clubs are taking off by providing a real alternative for everyday travel. From our data we can see that local businesses and residents are already regular users of car sharing here and equally visitors to the city who are members in other locations are also accessing the vehicles. From our experience in other cities and in the US we believe Nottingham’s approach could become a model for integrated transport in other cities.”

Half price residential membership is available for all Nottingham City residents; all they need to do is apply online at www.citycarclub.co.uk and use the promotional code NOT301.

Find out more about City Car Club by visiting www.nottinghamcity.gov.uk/carclub