City Car Club Launched
A revolutionary green car club scheme was launched in Norwich city centre in November which allows Norwich residents access to cars for as little as £2.80-an-hour. The official launch generated media attention with local news channels, radio stations and local newspapers showing an interest.
This helped to generate more than 300 enquiries to CityCarClub (CCC) about membership. Once signed up as a member you can book the cars on the internet at www.citycarclub.co.uk or by telephone. Then you simply open the doors with your personal smart card, enter your PIN number and drive away. When you have finished with the car you just bring it back to its designated parking bay, lock the doors, and that's it. Generally members cut down on unnecessary car journeys by 35% after they join. Across the 200 strong CCC fleet based all around cities around the UK an estimated 2000 tones of CO2 emissions are saved, the equivalent of 530 flights to Australia. Security precautions are very important and only pre-registered fully paid up users can have access to the system. A SMART card is allocated per user, together with password protection. Cars can only be pre-booked, with journey start times and journey destinations. The location of available cars is then given to the validated subscriber. The actual car modem is simultaneously activated and will only respond to a successful transacted SMART card booking for the member to access the vehicle. The car immobiliser cannot be deactivated with the SMART card located in the dashboard modem and password activated. The car journey is recorded by satellite control which verifies the journey and debits the cost against the member credited balance at the end of the journey. There is full indemnity insurance for users of the cars.
Author: Claire Sullivan
