Rent a car for just £3.95!
Neal Snowdon
CAR clubs where vehicles are hired for as little as £3.95 an hour could soon be helping make Manchester a greener city.
And they will make life easier for people living in the bustling centre of town - where parking is at a premium - who may not own a car yet may want one to pop to the shops or visit friends.
The city council is talking to a number of companies about creating a system for people to rent cars by the mile or by the hour in the city centre early next year.
It is hoped the scheme would cut problems such as pollution, parking and congestion because fewer vehicles would be in use and fewer parking spaces would be needed.
Similar schemes are running in Leeds, Edinburgh, London and Brighton. Manchester city council believes this is the ideal place for such an idea to be successful, because of the strong economy and the growing numbers of people in central apartments.
Use
Coun Neil Swannick said: "People living in the city centre who work nearby may not need a car all the time, yet may need one when taking an elderly relative out or when going shopping for bulky items. This would be a way to give them the use of a car without them having to have one all the time."
The council would provide parking bays for car club vehicles, which are usually small, economical hatchbacks. In Leeds, the company WhizzGo uses Citroen C3 diesel cars, with an average 67 miles to the gallon. Manchester city council has met six car club companies and city centre developers, who are keen for some form of new transport to be available for flat dwellers. Under the WhizzGo scheme in Leeds, drivers pay £25 for a smartcard and £125 for insurance, refundable when membership ends. They pay £3.95 an hour while using the car.
People book cars by phone or online. They use their smartcard and personal pin number to get into and drive the car left by a previous user in a designated bay. Longer journeys can be done but the scheme is really designed for shorter ones.
With car parking spaces at a multi-storey in Manchester ranging from £890 to £2,112 a year and private parking spaces going for £20,000, the council believes car clubs could be the best way forward.
Research shows that 10 vehicles are taken off congested roads for every one person who signs up to a car club.
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