Case Study Summaries - Richard Armitage Transport Consultancy ...

MAKING CAR SHARING AND CAR CLUBS WORK CASE STUDY SUMMARIES
6 BROOMFIELD HOSPITAL, CHELMSFORD
General Background
6.1 Broomfield Hospital is the major 800-bed site of Mid Essex Hospital Services NHS Trust
(MEHT), which also covers two smaller sites in Chelmsford. Both of these are due to be fully
merged on the Broomfield site within the next five years, on an expanded site financed under
a PFI contract. Small hospital sites are also operated in two other towns in the area. In
recent years it has become one of the largest NHS trusts in the country.
6.2 Currently, the Broomfield Hospital site employs about 3,000 people, all of whom are eligible
to join the car share scheme, and of whom 130 have joined so far. The car sharing scheme
was devised and introduced upon the appointment of a Travel Plan Co-ordinator in summer
2003. This followed a commitment to introduce a Car Sharing scheme as part of a Green
Travel Plan. The Travel Plan was proposed in a Consultants Report following a Transport
Impact Study in February 2002, as part of the strategy to relocate MEHT services on an
expanded Broomfield site. The consultants also recommended that the car sharing scheme
include dedicated parking spaces for car sharers, a guaranteed lift home, and a needsbased
approach for allocating car parking spaces. As well as proposing initiatives to make it
more attractive for staff at Broomfield to cycle to work it also, crucially, included the
appointment of a Travel Plan Co-ordinator. The consultants also proposed preliminary
targets for a reduction in the number of employees travelling by car.
6.3 As well as the Green Travel Plan, driven very largely by the planned expansion of the
Broomfield site, a main motivation for the scheme was continued and growing pressure on
the existing car parking facilities at Broomfield Hospital.
6.4 The car sharing scheme has three main aspects:
Car-share matching through an internet-based service
Car sharing permits and dedicated car-sharing bays
Strong publicity for the scheme
6.5 The internet-based matching service is operated as part of www.Travelshare-Essex.com. At
the interview with Broomfield Hospital, the Travel Plan Co-ordinator, Teresa Prosser, had
invited the General Manager of the Chelmsford Environment Partnership, which runs
Travelshare-Essex, to also meet us, indicating the close and successful working relationship
between MEHT and Travelshare-Essex.
Operating Structure
6.6 Car-share matching is done through the Travelshare-Essex website, though in practice
many staff find their own car-sharers themselves. However, they have to be registered on
the Travelshare-Essex website in order to obtain a car-sharer’s parking bay permit. These
car share-only staff car parking spaces were introduced from February 2004. Staff can
register as a driver, a passenger or both.
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