Issues: Our clogged cities need a break. Car-sharing would help. It works in many European cities - and is gaining ground in Britain. Are we straight enough with each other to make it work here? Michael McAleer reports.
Would you be willing to let your neighbour borrow your car any time you're not using it? Perhaps not. How about buying a car between you? While Irish commuters grapple for seats on buses and sit face-to-buttock on our trains, little attention has been paid in Ireland to a growth area in public transport: the public car.
Car-sharing has been operating in European cities for the past 10 years. The concept usually involves non-profit clubs set up with a pool of cars parked at a number of locations in a city and available for members who pay either a monthly subscription or a mileage tariff. The difference between these and rental cars, is that they can be used for one-hour trips.
And in Britain small car-sharing clubs are being set up with the support of local authorities in rural towns such as Bradford on Avon. With a population of 8,000, the town suffers from air quality issues and its council is keen to get people to look at alternative modes of transport.
In rural areas, where public transport is sparse at best, there may be room for the car-sharing principle to work in tandem, or feeding off, the limited local transport system.
The European Car Sharing (ECS) organisation is an umbrella operation set up in 1991 by five car-sharing companies. Today it has 40 participating companies, operates in 550 towns and serves about 56,000 members. It is currently active in Germany, Italy, Norway, Sweden, Denmark and Switzerland.
One of the main aims of ECS is to standardise car-sharing services so that members of participating companies can access car-sharing vehicles in all associated towns within Europe.
According to Charles Ball, managing director of SmartMoves, a British company promoting car-sharing schemes, clubs demonstrate that mobility can be maintained even if families downsize from two cars to one. "You've got a lump of metal sitting outside your house but few consider the true cost of it," he says. "It's estimated to cost £4,000 a year to run a car in Britain." Ball feels that there is good reason for car-owners to look more favourably at alternatives."
The clubs organise car fleets with the aim of offering services for anything from an hour up to two and a half days. Mileage rates are set to dissuade people taking the cars on long journeys. In any case, agreements made with rental firms allow for discounts when people need a car for longer trips.
In many of the cities where the clubs have shown most success, taxis are relatively expensive. "Taxis are not directly competing with the cars - in fact, it's often better to use taxis for relatively short journeys. But once the costs rises to £10-£15, then it's worthwhile to use the club's car," says Ball.
Car firms are also coming on board with Honda supporting one club in the US, while Volkswagen another. The fact that car-sharing has proved popular in the car-crazed US indicates the potential of such schemes.
The British model did have its teething problems but, with sponsorship from Vauxhall and help from an experienced broker with rental experience, clubs have been able to get off the ground. Certain membership criteria had to be set down to get the idea off the ground.
In order to minimise risk and keep insurers happy, clubs had to impose three areas of exclusion:
Members had to be over 23 and under 76
Members who were full-time students had to be over 30
A number of occupations were excluded
The costs for members are minimal. Initially they pay a £25 once-off fee and £100 a year membership charge, with a £100 security deposit. The mileage rate is less than 15-16p, including petrol. A Corsa usually costs 9p a mile, so the rest goes to wear and tear - that's value for money.
How long does it take for a club to prove that it's a success? Ball says that, in the area of transport, "it takes decades before you see the fruits of your labour."
Certainly, assistance in developing schemes came with new housing legislation requiring developers to reach certain parking standards. The result was a growing interest by developers in ways to maximise services to residents.
Scepticism towards car-sharing is to be expected from Irish readers. Our European brethren operate similar bike rental schemes in cities such as Copenhagen and even Paris - but are we as trustworthy as our European neighbours?
Irish people have been known to stare in disbelief at German commuters who pay for their train tickets at the automatic ticket machines and then board the trains without inspection. The general feeling is that, if such methods were introduced here, nobody would pay, apart from German tourists.
So, in the current 'mé féin' environment that exists here, does car-sharing stand a chance? Not likely is the general response. Yet car-sharing is up and running in cities such as Edinburgh, where social mores are more like ours.
The benefits of car-sharing are numerous. Most obvious is the accessibility of a range of cars to members without them having to own one. The system differs from car rental in that access to vehicles can be for as little as one hour at a time. Clubs are organised so that cars are conveniently located for particular neighbourhoods or workplaces.
The overheads of car ownership - tax, insurance, paying for the car - are paid for by the club.
According to Graham Lightfoot, who helped set up just such a scheme in Dublin in the mid-1990s, the biggest hurdle remains that great bugbear, insurance. Despite meeting with the Irish Insurance Federation and various insurance firms, the Dublin car-sharing co-op failed to get off the ground.
For those who argue for greater use of public transport, car-sharing fits with their stance and could prove alluring to those willing to take public transport to and from work, but requiring the use of a car during business hours.
Benefits to the community are less direct and some become evident only as the proportion of car-users in a neighbourhood or city reach "critical mass."
The most significant effect of car clubs, of course, is a reduction in the number of cars on the road. Research from mainland Europe claims that each car club car put into operation leads to five fewer cars on the road. These benefits have real potential if "low-car" or "no-car" households are recognised in future planning of cities.