A local government authority is on track to achieve an annual saving of £100,000 on its staff travel costs, as a result of replacing its pool car fleet with an AlphaCity advanced car sharing scheme.

The Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead launched the car sharing programme for its employees in conjunction with business mobility specialist Alphabet.

The council moved to car sharing in order to provide its employees with flexible, hassle free transport on demand and to cut the council’s pool car costs. It now has 13 Mini Coopers available to its employees across multi-site locations.

In 2015 the Energy Saving Trust recommended that the council evaluate new mobility technologies that could reduce the costs and emissions from business journeys in cars.

Mark Green, fleet manager at Windsor and Maidenhead, looked at AlphaCity advanced CarSharing, with its fully-remote, keyless operation and low-emission car options, he felt that it could be solution the council was seeking.

He said: “AlphaCity has cut the council’s administration overhead for car travel by about 90%. With both the booking system and vehicle on-board technology, pool car users do not have to come into the office to pick up keys.

“Employees can go straight to the cars, so it’s far more efficient than the system we originally had in place. This scheme is also really good for employees who walk, cycle or use public transport to get to work and back. A car is available, should one be required, 24 hours a day, seven days a week.”

Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead has five Air Quality Zones in its area, where it needs to reduce the level of diesel particulates and NOx emissions. By reducing the need for employees to use their own cars for commuting or work journeys, the AlphaCity scheme is contributing to its clean-up campaign. Air quality was also a key consideration behind the choice of petrol cars for the scheme, due to the absence of particulates.