About you

Enterprise Holdings

 

Your opinion  

1.        Are the transport emissions reductions targets, policies and proposals (set out in Prosperity for All: A Low Carbon Wales) achievable and sufficiently ambitious?

Partly

1.1   Please outline your reasons for your answer to question 1

Enterprise is pleased that, although much of these efforts focus on trying to get people out of private cars, the welsh government has recognised the that the car via car clubs has a role to play in encouraging the people to change their attitudes to car ownership.

Enterprise is encouraged by the Welsh Governments intention to increase the proportion of vehicles which are electric and ultra-low emission.

Enterprise is the largest car buyer and seller of vehicles in the UK, therefore are crucial in forming the make-up of the vehicles which are on our roads. Replacing higher-emitting privately owned vehicles with more low-emitting rental vehicles will have a huge impact on the reduction of carbon emissions. For example, car club members in London saved 49,220 tonnes of C02 last year and Car Club membership cuts a Londoner’s transport carbon footprint by 73%.

Enterprise Car Club vehicle carbon emissions are 42% lower than the average UK car in England and Wales; and 25% of the Enterprise Car Club fleet is already made up of either hybrid vehicles or fully electric vehicles. By investing in EV infrastructure and ensuring car club (with EV charging points), are mandatory in new developments Enterprise can expand its fleet of EV vehicles

2.        Is the Welsh Government’s vision for the decarbonisation of transport sufficiently innovative, particularly in terms of advocating new technologies?

Partly

 

2.1   Please outline your reasons for your answer to question 2

 

Enterprise is encouraged by the proposed use of new technological solutions. We believe that one of the key innovations required to achieve the goals outlined in the plan for a low carbon Wales is through Mobility as a Service.

 

It is crucial that there is sufficient technological and physical infrastructure to ensure that shared transport options are attractive to consumers and the ability to plan, pay and book journeys via a mobility app is key to incentivising shared transport options.  The Commission on Travel Demand report from 2018 states there has already been a reduction in miles travelled by Millennials and Gen Z over the past 20 years. This demographic needs a choice of multi-modal options that embrace digital innovation, providing automated access.

 

Enterprise would recommend that the Welsh Government should work with both public sector bodies and with private companies to help develop and trial MaaS applications to ensure that Wales remains ahead of the curve with regards to MaaS.

 

This means ensuring that transport providers are integrated in both physical and digital spheres so that they are accessible to consumers who wish to remove the reliance on the private motor vehicle. 

The adoption of MaaS will also help to overcome some of the image related issues that are associated with public transport and ensure that is a more desirable alternative to the private vehicle.

 

In addition, car rental and car club demonstrably accelerate the transition towards mobility as a service. Research by TRL and Steer Davies Gleave found that, of those people surveyed that had used car rental during the last 12 months, 14% had sold and not replaced their car and 23% would not consider purchasing a car, opting for car rental instead.

 

3.        What action is required, and by whom, to achieve the targets, policies and objectives?

 

The Welsh Government, Transport for Wales, local authorities including the Capital City Region (who we are aware are working on the major City Region Metro project) need to ensure that they work collaboratively with each other but also major transport providers to ensure that separate transport modes/providers are integrated.

 

Integrating different modes is essential to ensuring that consumers are able to adequately ensure the entirety of their journeys are covered. Ensuring that the last mile of consumers journeys can be met with alternative shared transport options will be essential to ensuring that consumers are able to move away from private vehicle use.

 

We recognise that not the entirety of journeys can be met by public transport modes to ensure that there is the availability of other modes such as car club and bike hire at public transport stations to enable that private cars are not needed for the last mile of consumers journeys.

 

4. How should the new Wales Transport Strategy reflect the actions needed to decarbonise transport?

 

Enterprise supports a radical approach to mobility that will not only improve the environment, reduce congestion and improve air quality, but also empower citizens to be able to choose the clean, safe, and efficient modes of transport that suit their needs and the needs of their city.

The new Wales Transport Strategy should include setting up a ‘working group’, which includes stakeholders from the Welsh government, TfW and transport providers from those that provide shared mobility solutions to cross country rail and bus providers. 

 

The new Transport Strategy should also provide guidance, support and funding to help support the overall goals of the transport strategy. Local authorities are coming under pressure to improve air quality and ensure they meet mandated goals and need funding support to ensure they can implement the correct policies without hampering people’s ability to move around. This would include for example training for local authority officials to ensure they understand how to implement policies that will help achieve the overall aims of the Low Carbon Wales plan and the forthcoming Transport Strategy. 

 

The Transport Strategy’s funding streams should be targeted at encouraging multi-modal transport solutions and encouraging people to give up older, high emitting vehicles. As part of this funding should be provided for an incentivised scheme of mobility credits to encourage people to trade in their older polluting vehicles in exchange for credits to be used on other forms of transport, including car rental and car club. Other modes of transport would also include bike share,  public transport etc. We are able to provide more policy detail and research on Mobility Credits on request.  Such a scheme can be targeted to local areas/authorities that have particular air quality issues but also targeting to particular demographics to ensure that those lower incomes are not only incentivised to give up what they perceive to be the most reliable and cost efficient mode, the private car but are also not adversely affected by any measures included in the Transport Strategy

 

5. Do you have any other points you wish to raise within the scope of this inquiry?

 

The Welsh Government in conjunction with local authorities has the opportunity to lead the shift away from private vehicle ownership and embrace a reduction in greyfleet. Incentives could be offered to public-sector employees for moving towards car club and daily rental, and away from using older commercial fleet vehicles or “greyfleet.”

 

Moving away from greyfleet to a multi-modal system of transport also encourages behavioural shifts in consumers, some of whom have a financial incentive via car allowances and remuneration per mile to keep a privately-owned vehicle, as their business vehicle.

 

Privately owned vehicles are parked 97% of the time and are on average over eight years old, for example switching out a greyfleet vehicle for a car club vehicle (which are switched out every 8-12 months) and the average car club vehicle in Wales produces 42% less carbon emissions than the average car.

This example excludes the additional environmental impact of those users who would use cleaner alternatives, such as car club and car rental as opposed to a private vehicle.

 

Local authorities and public-sector bodies can also save money by switching away from grey fleet.  There are several examples where making the switch to car rental and car club programmes has saved money for local authorities of the public sector, and data is available on request:

- Woking Borough Council, for example, has partnered with a car rental operator and has reduced expenditure on grey fleet travel by 29%.

- Scotland NHS Fife expects to save more than £100,000 a year through its new partnership with a car club provider.