Campaign to bring City Car Club to Hedge End

By TGRWorzel | Friday, April 22, 2011, 08:56

I think it is about time that the City Car Club scheme was extended into Hedge End, which is after all a major suburban area these days.

The City Car Club website http://www.citycarclub.co.uk/ explains what it is about and how it works, but to summarise it is a scheme which caters for anybody wanting to borrow a car on a flexible basis, for the odd hour or two now and again, sometimes at short-notice but who can't justifying running a car privately.

Trouble is, if you sign-up and want to use one of these cars, the closest is usually in the St Mary's area of Southampton. You need a car to get there, so you are snookered before you start...!

I suggest that one car should be located at the 2000 Centre in Hedge End and maybe another at the railway station.

The City Car Club website includes a page which allows us to specify where we think additional cars should be located, so if you read this and think it is a good idea please visit their site and fill-in the appropriate form...!

If you click on this link https://secure.citycarclub.co.uk/contact/car-near-me/ you'll be taken directly to that page.

Thanks for your support.

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Comments

I hope it will happen one day LandGirl, though it might take some time and is dependent on the level of demand for CityCarClub in Hedge End. It is therefore really important to go to the site and "request a car near me" if you support the idea and would use the facility.

As for buses, the Bluestar 3 into Southampton is hourly. I've found it OK if I plan around that, but I wouldn't call it a good service. Just OK, the absolute bare-minimum really, exactly what I would expect from a privatised service where profit is more important than service....

I think there is a bus-stop served by Bluestar3 more or less outside the 2000 Centre in Bursledon Road. The Railway station would clearly be a little harder to reach, if you live in the older part of Hedge End and don't have a car.

Actually, I'm surprised the Bluestar service doesn't turn-right at the bottom of Wildern Lane, work its way into Grange Park past Missenden acres, the school and the railway station, turn left run past Wickes, back to Marks and Spencer and then pick up its usual route into Southampton. It seems to be only serving half of Hedge End at the moment and that is a major omission. Surely, if Bluestar3 is now an hourly service, there would be time to do this extra little detour...?

We could even argue that if we want a service that covers all of Hedge End, Bluestar should always trundle up TurnPike Way after it has stopped at Marks and Spencer, and is on its way back to the J7 roundabout over the Motorway.

By TGRWorzel at 06:22 on 29/06/11
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I think this is a brilliant idea , I will have a look at the site and certainly support it, There must be many people who through these stringent times are struggling to keep their car on the road, unemployment / fuel costs etc ....i also agree the 2000 centre is a good option but feel the bus service might be a problem? having spent many years using public transport ( i don't call it service !) it always seems bus stops are never in the right place . perhaps we could have a meeting with the bus company if there is enough support for the car.

By LANDGIRL at 22:09 on 28/06/11
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For anbody wanting to "request a car near me" but struggling to find the relevant page on the website, here is a direct link https://secure.citycarclub.co.uk/contact/car-near-me/

By TGRWorzel at 09:16 on 25/04/11
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I think it's a great idea. There are two Commonwheels Ford Fiestas available at the Civic Offices in Eastleigh. Not much use for Hedge Enders, but at least the Council is aware of and providing this service and has an aspiration to expand it to other locations. The two cars at the Civic Offices are available both for members of staff who have to travel for work during the day and for members of the public who sign up to the scheme.

Car ownership in Hedge End is between 1.4 and 1.8 cars per household (Grange Park has the highest car ownership in the Borough) so we might not be high on the priority list for the Eastleigh scheme. Perhaps it is something the new Town Council could be prevailed upon to champion after May 5th.

By Keith_Day at 13:48 on 23/04/11
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Excellent. Thank you James. I'll look forward to becoming a member of City Car Club very soon...!

By TGRWorzel at 09:52 on 22/04/11
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