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Greening the car-pool
There are about 200 cars, 60 utilities and 40 vans in the
Christchurch City Council car fleet. Of those, about 100 do
fewer than 10,000km a year and 24 clock up less than
6000km a year. The Council decided to rationalise the fleet. It aimed for
39 fewer cars, brought in a centralised booking system to
more efficiently use the fleet, and it introduced an electronic
card system which collects information as vehicles come into
and out of the carparks. The aim is to do away with paper
running sheets. The system allows all cars available to staff in the main
building in Tuam Street, where nearly 800 of the 1200 staff
are housed, to be accessed by all staff. It also allows a more
efficient maintenance schedule. The Seven Habits of Highly Efficient Drivers, a pamphlet
produced by The Energy Efficiency and Conservation
Authority, is placed in every car to encourage better driving
habits. The City Council has used money normally spent on cars
to buy bicycles that are used as part of the transport pool.
The bikes are booked in the same way as Council pool cars.
The number of trips made using Council cars has dropped
by 3.5 per cent since the bicycles have been available. The Council also encourages staff to use their own bikes
during working hours — like a vehicle mileage claim, staff
members can claim a $1 allowance if they use their own
bike to go to meetings during working hours. What can you do? |