Streetcar: The Wheel Thing
A motor vehicle was once an object of desire, but Streetcar makes owning your own car a less attractive option
There was a time when owning a car was high on everyone’s list of priorities. A car gave you status, it gave you mobility, convenience, and it gave you freedom. Whether you desired a nippy hatchback or a sleek sports model, car ownership was the thing to do.
There were drawbacks: cars are expensive, cars devalue at an alarming rate, fuel is expensive, road tax is expensive, and insurance… well, do we need go on?
That was all before we became more ecologically aware too. Where owning a car once showed your position in the world, it now appears to show a lack of respect of the world.
Enter Streetcar, a rapidly expanding car club that offers the convenience of car ownership but at a fraction of the cost of actually owning a car.
Streetcar was started by two university friends, Brett Akker and Andrew Valentine in 2006. Since then, the company has grown at an extraordinary rate and the service now has a presence in more than 1,100 locations with 1,400 cars across 10 cities, including London, Brighton, Cambridge, Southampton, Guildford, Maidstone, Oxford, Bristol, Edinburgh and, most recently, Glasgow.
“Streetcar looks like a win-win option for both business clients and private car users alike”
The success has been so great that the company has now become part of Zipcar – the world’s largest car club.
Streetcar offers a range of BMW and VW vehicles on a pay-as-you-go basis. Members can use vehicles from across the UK operation and, very soon, they will have access to Zipcar’s international network of cities and 7,000 cars.
Sam Wilson, area manager, says Streetcar is the biggest company of its kind in the UK, but by joining forces with Zipcar members will be able to use their membership globally.
In Brighton there are already 14 vehicles expanding to 20 by mid June. In the UK there are already over 50,000 members accessing a fleet of 1,600 cars.
The scheme is simple to use: members book a car either online or over the phone, as little as five minutes ahead of time, for anything from 30 minutes to six months. They then use a smartcard to unlock the vehicle, which is typically within a three minute walk of their home. At the end of the journey the car is returned to a dedicated Streetcar parking space. Prices start from £4.95 per hour.
Annual membership is £59.50. Streetcar bookings include 30 miles of free fuel per day (23p/mile after that), and all fuel is free on bookings of 72 hours of more.
There’s science too: the company has a compelling environmental record. Independent research conducted by Transport for London shows that each car club vehicle on the road replaces an average of 26 privately-owned cars.
This is because each car has an average of 40 users and, of those, over half chose not to buy (or replace) a car when they join the club. Streetcar has already taken over 20,000 privately-owned cars off the UK’s streets and is aiming to prevent the emission of around 50,000 tonnes of CO2 over the next two years.
According to the RAC’s annual research, the average cost of owning a car is £2,219 (over £42 per week). Additional costs such as finance, insurance and depreciation bring this figure to £5,523 (£106 per week). Car owners can typically save over £2,000 per year after joining Streetcar.
But what makes Streetcar the most desirable car club on offer? “We pride ourselves on excellent customer service,” says Sam. “We’re continually adding new VWs and BMWs ensuring the average age of our vehicles is around six months.”
It’s clearly an attractive deal and one that makes both financial and ecological sense. It is also growing as a replacement for business fleets or pool cars and they offer company membership to which over 2,000 UK businesses already subscribe.
Streetcar looks like a win-win option for both business clients and private car users alike. They also offer VW Transporter vans as part of the service.
So the bottom line is: no cleaning, no maintenance, no road tax, no parking permits, no waiting lists for those permits, and the cars are brand new and sold after a very short period. You can join if you’re aged 19 or older, and have held a full driving licence for at least a year (two years for 19–21 year olds).
Streetcar pride themselves on customer service and the service they offer seems to have all of the bases covered.
Streetcar Member Services Enquiries Team: 0845 644 8475 or 020 3004 7811. Open 24 hours a day, 365 days a year,
or email: services@streetcar.com www.streetcar.com
