Streetcar help Londoners take 7,400 cars off the streets

(18/03/2008)

Savvy Londoners have taken over 7,400 cars off the streets, saving thousands of tonnes of carbon emissions, thanks to the UK’s largest car club, Streetcar.

Without the scheme, which enables individuals to rent VW Polos and Golfs from £3.95 per hour, residents would have had to plant 1.2 million trees (25m acres of forest) to achieve the same CO2 saving and neutralise the impact of so many cars.

Streetcar currently has 10,952 members in London and offers 281 locations. Overall, the scheme has 30,000 members across 600 locations in London and five other UK cities. With drivers now joining at twice the number originally predicted, the service expects to have 50,000 members by the end of this year and 250,000 by 2012.

Research shows that, for every Streetcar vehicle on the road, 20 private vehicles are withdrawn as members do not buy or replace their own car, making it twice as effective as the congestion charge in tackling London's traffic problems.

Brett Akker, co-founder and Managing Director, comments: “We’re delighted at how readily South Londoners have embraced Streetcar’s car-club concept. We’ve proven that if you give people a very reliable and convenient alternative to car ownership, they’re only too willing to take it up. The environmental benefits speak for themselves – thousands of tonnes of carbon emissions saved in South London alone.”

The scheme is simple to use; members book a car online (www.streetcar.co.uk) or over the phone, as little as 30 minutes ahead of time, and use remotely activated smartcards to unlock the vehicle. At the end of the journey the car is returned to a dedicated Streetcar parking space and a travel log is automatically sent to Streetcar HQ in Wimbledon.

Related categories:  Car hire   Volkswagen