Fleet-Share

Faced with the prospect of reducing his fleet by 365 vehicles — after having trimmed it by 150 cars the year prior — Washington, D.C., Department of Public Works Director William Howland Jr. had to get creative.

After analyzing vehicle usage rates, Howland determined that some of the 16 agencies he oversees use cars only 5% to 25% of the time — “maybe two hours out of the day, or less,” he said in a session at the Government Fleet Expo yesterday.

So in July 2008, Howland unveiled DC Fleet Share, modeled after Zipcar’s car-sharing network. The program started with 30 alternative-fuel vehicles equipped with car-sharing technology. As with Zipcar, an agency employee would reserve a car, via phone or internet, for a certain amount of time. He would go to one of four designated areas, and hold up a special card to a small device on the windshield to unlock the car. Then he could take the car for the allotted amount of time.

In the past two years, the department’s driver to vehicle ratio has climbed to 18:1 from 5:1. The program has expanded to 76 vehicles at eight locations, with plans to add eight more. Per month, DC Fleet Share vehicles are driven 30,000 miles in the 13,000 hours they’re reserved.

As for expense reduction, the department saved $400,000 in fleet costs in the first four months of the program. In the first year, it saved $1 million.

In my mind, these numbers are compelling. In addition to reducing its fleet and saving money, the department has eliminated a lot of the time vehicles idle in government lots. The Fleet Share technology also enables the department to track the whereabouts of every vehicle in its fleet. With so many governments strapped for cash, I’d expect to see this model crop up a lot more in the coming years, ultimately putting pressure on OEM fleet programs.