Lambeth Car Clubs

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Lambeth Car Clubs

• A tendered multi-operator model

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Why a multi-operator model?

• Pros of multi-operator model
• Residents have choice
• Drives up standards
• Gives a chance for new operators to set up
• Large expansion possible

3

• Cons of multi-operator model
• Compared to single operator model, a multi
• operator model offers
• Less clarity for public
• More complicated marketing
• More complex admin/control
• Is more costly and complex for operators

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Tender and contract

• Asked accredited operators to bid
• Council provided operators with list of bays and
  asked them to rank in order of preference
• Operators put forward a case for use of bays
• Tender included details of rates and charges,
  customer service obligations, marketing and
  promotion strategies and business plans
• Offered 2 year contract with formal termination
  and option to extend
• Allows for termination of contract and
  re-allocation of bay if operator is
  underperforming

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Process of allocating bays

• How it works
• Operator marked on bid, and this data used to
  allocate bays on a pro-rata basis (using
  preferences from the list of bays we provided)
• Operators offered 2 year contract obliging them
  to provide 6-monthly monitoring on performance
  and utilisation (number of members, mileage etc),
  including mechanisms for seeking improvements or
  termination of contract if necessary

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What works well

• Our method of tender, bay allocation and
  monitoring
• Provides Council with baseline of data and shows
  commitment from operators
• Provides operators with bays in areas they prefer
• Ensures Council gets the best from operators
• Provides incentive for the operator to perform

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Phased introduction

• Car Club bays introduced in series of phases
• Council ask operators to identify locations for
  new on-street bays and suggestions also sought
  from ward councillors
• Existing contractors not required to bid again,
  but operators asked to provide data on
  performance and bays allocated to those who
  performed best
• New operators must tender as the others did
• Lengths of contracts for new operators adjusted
  so contracts of existing and new operators expire
  simultaneously

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Performance monitoring and ongoingbay allocation

• Every 6 months, operators asked to provide data
  on performance over the preceding 6 months
• Gives Council information on progress of
  operators, individually and collectively, and
  helps identify hotspots for usage and demand
• Council uses data to allocate new bays to
  operators showing most success and possibly
  reallocate existing bays from operators showing
  least success
• Designed to reward success and help operators to
  grow car club networks quickly

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TMOs what works well

• Local postal consultation carried out for each
  bay to measure support for its location and
  implementation
• Informs residents of what is proposed, flags up
  issues and influences bay location and
  implementation
• Council carries out stand-alone Car Club Bay
  implementation programme
• High cost because of consequential changes to
  existing parking bays and can only be done
  two/three times a year
• By building bay identification and implementation
  process into design of new and reviewed CPZs,
  opportunity to reduce costs and ensure steadier
  stream of bays becoming available

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Lessons learnt in choosing bays and balancing
needs

• Local informal consultation flags up issues and
  pre-empts potential problems (lesson learned from
  CPZ introduction)
• Flexibility in bay location aids implementation
  Cannot always put bay in preferred location
• Be prepared to change bay allocation if operator
  is underperforming
• Clarity and openness from the Council are
  important for car-club members, residents and
  operators
• Political support facilitates whole process

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Outline of Experience and Policy Changes

• Lambeth car club summit took place with all the
  major players from the Council, accredited
  operators and other interested parties
• From this, our experience and with further
  consultation, Car Club Strategy developed which
  sets out our aims, goals and policy regarding all
  aspects of Car Clubs
• Whole process has been hard work but has also
  been (mainly) successful