Welcome to Wirksworth Shares!
Would you be interested in a peer-to-peer vehicle sharing scheme tailored to our local community?
Would you like to see fewer cars in Wirksworth? Do you have a car that spends a lot of its time not being utilised?
Whatever you need a vehicle for, this approach seeks to provide options by helping to connect car and van owners with borrowers, with the goal of reducing the number of cars in Wirksworth.
With support from Grassroots Wirksworth, we're working on enabling a community-led initiative to make this a reality, so we've created a survey to gather useful insight as to how this scheme can best be implemented to serve the community.
We've kept our name generic because there is the potential to expand this to other forms of peer-to-peer sharing in future eg. power tools, bicycles - you name it! It's something that could really evolve if it gets widespread support.
What is peer-to-peer vehicle sharing?
These schemes are designed to connect individuals who need transport with those who can offer their vehicles.
Powered by the well-established sharing app Hiyacar, car owners can create a free account to list their car and make it available to neighbours in a closed group. This means only individuals who are pre-approved to join the group, can hire their neighbours vehicles.
Hope Valley Climate Action have already implemented a similar scheme and created a great resource about how this works for their community.
This should help answer any questions people have about how this could work for us, but if you have any questions about the scheme prior to completing the survey, feel free to get in touch at: wirksworthshares@proton.me
The benefits of peer-to-peer sharing
Owning a car is expensive. According to RAC research, the average annual cost of car ownership is over £4,000 — including financing or depreciation, insurance, tax, fuel, and maintenance.
Wirksworth Shares is about making vehicles affordable and available when people actually need them. We're aiming for a daily hire rate of around £30. Based on ownership costs, that means you could hire a car over 130 days a year before you’d spend what you would on owning one. If you typically drive two or three times a week or less, car sharing could save you a lot of money — without the hassle of MOTs, insurance renewals, or maintenance.
Beyond the personal savings, we also believe this kind of system will encourage more shared journeys — neighbours teaming up for shopping trips or errands, for example. We’re keen to support and promote that kind of informal ride sharing, which not only strengthens community ties but amplifies the environmental benefits of the scheme.
Keep informed on progress
Wirksworth Shares is being set up to help gather interested parties, build groups of lenders and borrowers and guide people through the process of joining up, while promoting the community, environmental and cost benefits of sharing.
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