Synopsis
Considering its number of inhabitants, the municipality of Langenegg has a very large proportion of commuters. With almost depleted local public transport services, most of them use the private car for their journeys to work. As a consequence, many households already own a second car in order to ensure mobility of the rest of the family during the day.
In order to stop this trend, the energy team of the local authority proposed to buy and rent out a car. The argument for purchasing a municipally-owned car was supported greatly by the circumstance that the municipality didn't own a car yet, while it paid up to 2,200 Euros a year for travelling costs to its staff in the municipal administration and nursing home for business travel, trainings and other events.
Although there are several convenient systems for car sharing on the market, for cost reasons the local authority finally decided to set up an own scheme. The municipality bought a car, which of course runs on biodiesel. The energy team called the car "Fifty". Why this name? "Fifty" (for "50%") means halving costs, emissions, parking space, energy and resource consumption.
The "Fifty" is used by Langenegg citizens and the municipal staff. Only in the case it is not available, municipal staff is allowed to use their private car for official trips. That's how the local authority saves to pay the mileage and increases the capacity utilisation at the same time. In order to promote the project, a specially designed leaflet was enclosed with the local newspaper, personal letters were sent to interested individuals and advertisements placed in the municipal bulletin. Information is further provided by Langenegg Information, material distributed by the local business federation and at www.langenegg.at.
Target groups: municipal staff - all citizens
Fields: responsible car use / mobility plans
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