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| Vincent Wall, moderator; with Dr Cara Augustenburg; Sheila Struyck; Owen Keegan; Anne Graham; and Colm Brady at The Future of Multimodal Transport. |
And Colm Brady says that cities need to embrace the concept of 'dissuading' people from owning cars and thus help reduce car ownership.
He was speaking at an event in Dublin to mark the company's 10th anniversary, The Future of Multimodal Transport.
Mr Brady has replaced Colm Menton, who has retired, at the helm of GoCar and Europcar Mobility Group Ireland.
There are now more than 450 GoCar vehicles in service in Ireland, and by the end of next year the company expects to increase that to 1,000. In addition to private driver usage, GoCar now offers a corporate car pool scheme.
At the event in the Wood Quay Centre, Colm Brady noted that the the number of people using the service has grown to over 30,000 nationally, and that this would reach 100,000 in a year.
"GoCar is now operating in 18 counties and we have seen a 600pc increase in journeys using our vehicles over the last three years," he told those attending, adding that a recent initiative that allows users of Leap cars to access the fleet 'was a game-changer'.
He also outlined the adoption of electric vehicles by the company, with the support of BMW and Renault, which resulted in 1,700 electric car journeys over the last two years.
Asked if he thought it would be difficult to 'wean' the private owner away from owning a car, he said he didn't think so, because people were beginning to realise the real cost. "The figures are there, produced by the AA. The more we talk about it, the more people will think about how much their car is costing them. Increasingly, if people are thinking of changing their car, they might consider whether car sharing is the way to go for them?"
He also noted that local authorities are now ready to change their planning regulations to include car sharing as part of their town and city plans. "One effect of this will be a lesser need for car space," he said.
The event featured a keynote speech from Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport Shane Ross TD, followed by a panel discussion involving Dr Cara Augustenburg, Lecturer in Environmental Policy in UCD; Colm Brady, MD of GoCar & Europcar Mobility Group Ireland; Anne Graham of the NTA; Owen Keegan, Chief Executive of Dublin City Council; and Sheila Struyck, MD of the Business Unit, Europcar Mobility Group.
