Working with the Energy Saving Trust and Enterprise CarShare, the council based two vehicles near its head offices in Woking as a “virtual” car pool for its 320 employees.

David Johnson, corporate strategy manager at Woking Borough Council, noted: ‘We wanted everyone to buy in to the thinking behind our car sharing programme. We knew that mileage reimbursement was seen by many as a discretionary “perk” so we brought the unions in from the beginning. That way they knew that we were providing alternative means of transport at no cost to employees rather than trying to reduce benefits.

‘They grasped this immediately, as well as the environmental benefits of the Enterprise cars, and this got them on board from day one.’

Since introducing the Enterprise CarShare programme from Enterprise Rent-A-Car in early 2010, the council’s CO2 footprint for employee business travel has dropped by 37% – equating to around 1.2 tonnes of CO2 per year – and grey fleet mileage has fallen by 14,000 miles a year.

In addition, thanks to better journey planning and more consideration over whether trips are actually necessary, the council has saved thousands of pounds with no reduction in its services to the local community.

The council also worked with employees to change behaviour and manage demand, encouraging them to think about journey planning and why they had to travel in the first place – so that rather than several different trips spread over a week, employees organised their time to do them all during the period for which they had the CarShare vehicle booked out.

David Johnson added: ‘Enterprise CarShare has helped us change how employees think of business trips. Without the perceived perk of mileage reimbursement and how it can encourage them to drive more than they need to, our employees take a more considered approach to their travel planning. In fact, many now see the programme as an additional staff benefit.’