Hackney Car Club Scheme

The Hackney Car Club Scheme is part of our wider work to increase opportunities for everyone in the borough and make the area safer, cleaner and greener.

So what is a Car Club?

A car club offers you the convenience of being able to use a clean, modern and reliable vehicle for those trips you cannot do by using public transport, cycling or walking.

Car Club cars are commonly parked on-street in their own designated bay. Sessions for as short as 30 minutes can be booked by Car Club members. Bookings can be made by phone or via the internet. Cars are placed in areas where they are easily accessible for residents and businesses. They provide a convenient alternative to using a privately owned vehicle because Car Club members only pay for what they use and therefore do not have to worry about tax, insurance, parking permits, servicing or repairs. There are none of the hassles of owning and maintaining a car.

Members have access to a car 24 hours a day, seven days a week, with none of the worry and expense of insurance, resident parking permits, garage fees, maintenance and all the other bureaucratic burdens that car owners have to carry.

Why are we doing this scheme?

There are three key reasons why we are developing this scheme in Hackney:

• to relieve parking pressures within the borough
• to reduce the reliance on the private motor-vehicle by residents and businesses
• to improve the level of social inclusion experienced by residents who can not afford their own car

How will the Car Club work?

The most efficient way to deliver this scheme in a cost effective way in Hackney is to work with an existing company that has experience of setting up and running Car Clubs in London. We have commissioned a Car Club company, Streetcar, to do this for us.

The Hackney Car Club Scheme is run by Streetcar, the largest car club operator in the United Kingdom. By joining Streetcar you will not only be able to access the vehicles located in our borough, you will also be able to book any of the other 500 Streetcar car club vehicles spread over 350 locations in London, including in the neighbouring boroughs of Islington and Tower Hamlets.

As a member you can book a car online or over the phone as little as 30 minutes ahead of time and use remotely activated smartcards to unlock the vehicle. At the end of the journey you return your car to its dedicated on-street car club parking space, so you are always guaranteed a space.

Residents and businesses can become a member for as little as £50 a year with the cars starting from £4.95 per hour, with the first 30 miles of petrol free.

The cars are available 24 hours a day for rent by the hour, day, week or month.

If you would like to see where the closest bay to you will be on a map, it can be downloaded from the link on the right hand side of this page.

About the Car Club Parking Bays

When the Car Cub Scheme is launched in mid-October this year, Car Club cars will be placed in their own on-street parking bays.

Only the Car Club vehicle can park in these bays and they will be designated with the wording ‘Car Club Only’ on the road way and will be enforceable by Parking Attendants. The location of these parking bays has been selected so as many people in the borough as possible can have access to a Car Club car.

To get an idea of the places in the borough that Car Club cars and their on-street parking bays are on a map, it can be downloaded from the link on the right hand side of this page.

Some of these proposed locations are in areas where there is demand for parking. We anticipate that over time, introducing Car Clubs in these areas of parking stress could lead to a reduced demand for parking. We will be monitoring to see whether this happens, working along with the Hackney Car Club Scheme operator, Streetcar.

More information

If you would like to join the Hackney Car club operated by Streetcar please contact Streetcar by telephone directly on 084 5644 8475 or visiting the website via the link on the right of this page.

If you would like to see where the closest bay to you will be on a map, it can be downloaded from the link on the right hand side of this page.

For more information on responsible car use visit the Carplus website via the link on the right of this page.

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Page updated: 21 Jan 2008