OWNING a car which sits in a drive, garage or parking space for most of the day should become a thing of the past, the politician in charge of transport policy has said.
Instead, Islanders should ‘alter their habits’ and share vehicles as and when they need them, according to Infrastructure Minister Tom Binet, who also argued that the Island would be the perfect test bed for driverless vehicles.
Speaking at a Scrutiny hearing yesterday, Deputy Binet revealed that the government was looking at investing in transport sharing company Evie, possibly taking a stake in the firm, to enable new social-housing developments to have a number of shared electric cars which would use on-site charging points.
He said that Evie wanted to bring 100 Citroen Ami electric vehicles (pictured right) to Jersey, with the first of them arriving this week.
These small electric cars will join the Evie fleet of bikes, cars and vans, which people can hire using an app on their phone and use for single or multiple journeys.
The government is also looking to promote the use of shared electric cars among its own staff, and discussions have started with new bus operator Kelsian about replacing all diesel buses with electric models.
Deputy Binet told the Environment, Housing and Infrastructure Scrutiny Panel: ‘I think people use their cars just 2-3% of the time in Jersey and we have 100,000 of them here. If we get people to alter their habits, those cars will be in use a lot more.
‘It is a completely new way of travelling – a major change to the way we move around.’
Discussing a possible new government relationship with Evie, he said: ‘We are starting to work with them with either joint funding or possibly buying into it and making it a small arm’s-length organisation so we can fit Evie cars and bikes into every development we do, and working with the parishes too so we have a network of these cars.
‘Those discussions have not been completed but they are under way.’
He added that he would like to see autonomous vehicles on Jersey’s roads as well.
‘On a personal level, I would be very keen and on an Island nine by five, where the average speed is 17mph, it makes perfect sense to me. The intention over the next four years is to be as far ahead of the game as we possibly can be.
‘With 100,000 people, we can’t lead on technology, but we can follow best-practice and when something comes on to the market that seems to be ahead of the game, you can look at it and introduce it as quickly as you can.
‘Jersey is a great sandbox and if we can attract people to come over here, then great.’
Deputy Binet added that his department was also rolling out the use of greener ‘second-generation’ diesel fuels for its fleet and seeking to recruit more specialists to speed up the transition from fossil-fuel-burning vehicles to electric models Islandwide.
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