Aylesbury Vale District Council (AVDC) saved £90,000 in the first year of introducing its new travel policy

LONDON, 2016-May-10 — /Travel PR News/ — Aylesbury Vale District Council (AVDC) revealed today that it has saved £90,000 in the first year of introducing its new travel policy, introduced at the end of 2014.

The savings have come from AVDC’s innovative travel policy, created in conjunction with Enterprise to bring the council in line with the sharing economy and the latest cost-saving technology. The new policy reviewed all aspects of employee mobility and was supported with new travel options to enable employees to find an alternative to reclaiming mileage recharge on a private vehicle.

Eight on-site hourly rental pool cars sourced through Enterprise Car Club were provided for employees making short journeys, along with Enterprise Rent-A-Car daily hire cars for longer journeys. These have successfully replaced the grey fleet as a less expensive and more environmentally-friendly option.

The policy was created after Enterprise analysed the council’s usage data and was able to segment its employees’ business trips by cost-efficiency, highlighting where hourly rental and daily rental would be most effective. For example, by restricting daily rental to those with journeys of more than 75 miles or eight hours, it has ensured its low-emission car club vehicles are used more regularly.

The travel policy was changed to focus on safety, which is essential for the council’s duty of care responsibilities. Council staff members still using their own vehicles for work first complete a tick box form checking several aspects of vehicle and driver maintenance such as safety, insurance, driving licence, health and fitness and vehicle condition.

AVDC has also cut its ‘grey fleet’ mileage reimbursement rate from up to 0.65 pence per mile to 0.15 to encourage employees to use the Enterprise Car Club vehicles as well as daily rental, given the potential cost savings and the environmental benefits.

The eight Enterprise Car Club vehicles are all low-emission and include three electric cars. In the first year of their use, AVDC has saved £90,000. The initiative has also allowed AVDC to re-introduce a 50% bus subsidy on all four locally-operated bus routes. Overall, its transport carbon emissions have been reduced by half.

Alan Asbury, sustainability & energy manager at AVDC, said: “Our new travel policy was based on an in-depth understanding of how our drivers behaved and their needs in terms of mobility. Enterprise helped us analyse where, how often and why staff were travelling, which was vital if we wanted them to do it more efficiently.

“Using a car club has helped us save tens of thousands of pounds, and Enterprise also helped us work with our employees to understand the aims of the programme and demonstrate what we were trying to achieve. It has been highly successful and we’ve now been invited to speak with other public and private sector organisations to show them what we did and how we did it.”

Adrian Bewley, director of business rental UK & Ireland at Enterprise Rent-A-Car, adds: “The council has been able to use a blend of hourly and daily rental, as well as leasing, to create a far more effective and greener approach to employee travel.

“AVDC is, quite rightly, being viewed as a leader in public sector business travel. It achieved silver in the annual Energy Savings Trust Fleet Hero Awards in November 2015. Most importantly, the success of the programme is due to the fact it was based on an analysis of driver behaviours and journeys. Data is the most important tool in creating a better travel policy and changing how employees think about driving.”

Press Contact

Deborah Lewis

deborah.lewis@theheromachine.com

Press Contact
Anil Haji

anil.haji@theheromachine.com

About Enterprise Rent-A-Car
In the UK, Enterprise Rent-A-Car is a specialist in providing replacement vehicles and courtesy cars, which are relied upon in the event of an accident. Enterprise, with more than 7,000 offices in the UK, Germany, Ireland, France, Spain, the United States and Canada, also offers daily and weekend rental for private or business use.

St. Louis-based Enterprise Holdings, the largest car rental service provider in the world, operates the Enterprise Rent-A-Car brand through its regional subsidiaries. Enterprise started in the UK in 1994 and has rapidly expanded. Currently operating more than 400 locations across the UK, with over 4,500 employees, three quarters of the UK population are within five miles of an Enterprise location.

For more information about Enterprise, visit www.enterprise.co.uk. For more information about Enterprise’s environmental stewardship and long-term commitment to the sustainability of its business, visit www.drivingfutures.co.uk.

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