Corporate Car Share
- Type
- project
Managing capital and maintenance costs and reducing emissions with car sharing
A corporate car share program involves cooperation with an established car sharing organization (CSO) and helps local governments minimize the number of vehicles in their fleet while still ensuring that all task requirements are met. In such a program, the local government will share vehicles with the community during times when the vehicles would otherwise not be used.
Developing a program involves analyzing your overall fleet needs and identifying where redundancies exist. The fleet is streamlined to include a series of vehicles with different specifications, according to typical tasks, that can be shared by employees and another group, such as the community. This requires developing a scheduling function that keeps the vehicles organized for both government and community use. For example, a local government could share five of their ten vehicles with community members after 5pm on weekdays and on weekends while reserving the right to priority over the vehicles. This would allow the local government to have meet all vehicular needs while reducing capital burden and improving conditions in the community. The program can also be a great way to develop a clear understanding of fleet requirements and make adjustments accordingly.
Benefits
A car share program can result in significant operational and financial benefits:
- Reduced GHG emissions and related pollutants
- Reduced operating costs
- Reduced insurance costs
- Reduced maintenance costs
- Freed up capital
- Increased vehicle availability and selection
- Reduced vehicle kilometres travelled
- Greater mobility
- Increased employee satisfaction
- More efficient land use, including a reduction in parking stalls
Developing a program
The first step is to get in touch with an established CSO to discuss the potential of developing such a program.
To understand if your local government would be better off taking on such a program, conduct a functional and operational analysis of your entire fleet. Work with your drivers, mechanics, and technicians to design the ideal vehicles and resulting fleet on paper. Focus on driving-associated objectives and how they could best be completed, rather than just how your fleet currently works.
Develop vehicle and fleet requirements based on this design. Pay particularly close attention to scheduling as time requirements play a critical role in how many and what type of automobiles should compose the car share portion of your fleet. Develop scheduling and sign-out functions to ensure that your car share program operates as smoothly as possible.
Once you understand what you need your fleet to do and when you need it done, look for opportunities when you do not need vehicles. For example, weekends, holidays, or after hours on weekdays. During these times, community members may be willing to pay to use your vehicles rather than having them just sit around.
A fuel data management system and benchmarking program will be particularly handy in monitoring and analyzing your ongoing vehicle and fleet requirements. You should revisit these tools to analyze your car share program frequently during the initial stages of its operation and make adjustments as they become clearly beneficial.
