Fancy having a car without the hassle of insurance, maintenance costs and parking tickets?
The West Yorkshire Combined Authority (WYCA) has £100,000 Government cash up for grabs to start an official car sharing club for West Yorkshire and York.
WYCA, a partnership between West Yorkshire councils including Kirklees and Calderdale and other public services, is inviting private companies to bid for a contract to run a club which lets drivers share vehicles.
Huddersfield currently has a small number of car clubs which allow members to borrow vehicles at short-notice.
They include City Car Club - originally called Smart Moves - which opened its headquarters, in Huddersfield, in 2002, launching a pay-as-you-go scheme in several cities.
City Car Club introduced several cars and dedicated parking bays into Huddersfield town centre in 2009.
After paying a subscription, members can book a car or van for a few hours or days.
Members do not have to pay for insurance, fuel or maintenance and can park for free in car club bays.
To reduce their environmental impact, car clubs often include electric and hybrid cars in their fleets.
While the introduction of car clubs in Kirklees has been relatively small-scale, they are widely used in London, Edinburgh and other cities.
The winning West Yorkshire bidder must run at least 15 new car club locations and five new electric vehicles.
WYCA chairman Clr James Lewis said: “By creating a unified West Yorkshire and York Car Club, the combined authority plans to give local residents and businesses greater access to the convenience and savings of such schemes.
“We will also be encouraging better integration with public transport by making access to car club vehicles payments possible through West Yorkshire’s MCard smartcard scheme, which people are already using to make over one million bus and train journeys per week.
“We are also looking to introduce a number of low emission vehicles, which will have a positive impact on air quality.”
An open day for potential car club operators takes place at Wellington House, 40-50 Wellington Street, on Friday (2pm-4pm).
To submit a bid visit: www.in-tendhost.co.uk/westyorkshireca before April 7.
