Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!
Streetcar throws in the towel as whispers about Haringey cabinet intent to charge them for parking their cars come true! (Spoof*)
Streetcar has decided to take their money and run, when the news of Haringey decision to charge them for parking their cars. Streetcar bosses confessed “dealing with Anti-competition watchdog was easier then dealing with Haringey transport bosses.”
According to the Telegraph Streetcar founders are to net £11m from the sale, don’t you feel sorry for them? But hey we can take comfort knowing that our council tax has been subsidising their business for a few years.
On the up side we can all sleep well from now on, knowing that our CPZ permits have been officially doubled and will help raising the annual parking surplus from £3,000,000 to unknown new heights.
Hope this news made you smile. Read the ‘real news’ on Haringey decision and the latest press on our website http://www.GreenN8.org
Best Wishes
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
GreenN8 C o m m u n i t y G r o u p | http://www.GreenN8.org
| http://twitter.com/GreenN8
| https://www.youtube.com/GreenN8TV
Zipcar takes the fast lane with Streetcar acquisition
============================================================
Anti-competition watchdog provisionally allows UK's two biggest car clubs to merge
By Jessica Shankleman
18 Nov 2010
An acquisition that will combine the UK's two biggest car clubs has been
provisionally approved by the anti-competition regulator based on its
expectation that the market for car-sharing schemes will continue to grow
rapidly.
The UK's Competition Commission (CC) today confirmed
/pdf/38_10_zipcar_streetcar_pf.pdf> that it believes the sale of Streetcar,
the largest car club in London, to Zipcar, the second largest, is not
anti-competitive because other companies are likely to enter the market in
the coming years.
The booming car club market would therefore offset any chance of the
Zipcar/Streetcar merged company being able to raise prices or reduce its
services to customers, it said.
Zipcar first announced
http://www.businessgreen.com/bg/news/1807090/zipcar-snaps-streetcar...
car-club-powerhouse> it had bought Streetcar in April, but the Office of
Fair Trading subsequently referred the sale to the CC to decide whether it
would substantially reduce competition in the market.
The CC inquiry has provisionally concluded that new and expanding companies
will stop the expanded Zipcar from exploiting its market position. However,
t has asked interested parties to comment on its findings with an eye to
issuing a final report in January.
"This is a carefully weighed decision but the evidence we have seen of
credible expansion by existing players and plans by new entrants into this
market means that we have provisionally concluded that the right answer in
this case is to clear the merger," said chairman of the Zipcar/Streetcar
inquiry group Peter Davis.
"Industry estimates have car club membership numbers increasing eight-fold
over the next decade so this is a fast-growing and therefore potentially
attractive market for new and expanding providers, particularly in London,"
he added.
If approved in the final report, the deal could significantly bolster the
appeal of the car club model in the UK giving customers of both companies
access to an increased number of vehicles. The deal is also expected to act
as a springboard for the firm's planned expansion across Europe.
Scott Griffith, Zipcar chairman and chief executive, said he was pleased
with the findings, which represented an important milestone in the
regulatory review process.
"The companies are now a step closer to delivering important benefits to
both Zipcar and Streetcar members, including access to more cars in more
locations, a wider selection of vehicle makes and models, and improved
service levels," he said in a statement
.
"Streetcar members will benefit from being a part of a global car sharing
network by using their membership in cities around the world where Zipcar
already has a presence."
Zipcar claims to be the world's leading car club with more than 500,000
members and 8,000 vehicles throughout the US, Canada and the UK.
Streetcar founders to net £11m from sale
==========================================
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/transport/7621904/S...
Two university friends will net in the region of £11m after the UK’s largest car sharing group Streetcar was sold to US rival Zipcar.
Zipcar, the largest car hire group in the world with 360,000 members, will pay around $50m (£32.5m) in company stock to acquire Streetcar, of which Andrew Valentine and Brett Akker still own a third.
Mr Valentine and Mr Akker founded Streetcar in 2004 and have established a fleet of 1,400 cars across eight British cities, including London.
They met at university before taking on senior roles at P&O, the ferry group, and Mars, the confectioner, respectively.
[*Note from Site Admin: We've added the short explanation to the title at the request of Streetcar since apparently this post is being returned in Google results and the company is concerned that no misunderstanding results. We're happy to oblige.]
According to the Telegraph Streetcar founders are to net £11m from the sale, don’t you feel sorry for them? But hey we can take comfort knowing that our council tax has been subsidising their business for a few years.
On the up side we can all sleep well from now on, knowing that our CPZ permits have been officially doubled and will help raising the annual parking surplus from £3,000,000 to unknown new heights.
Hope this news made you smile. Read the ‘real news’ on Haringey decision and the latest press on our website http://www.GreenN8.org
Best Wishes
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
GreenN8 C o m m u n i t y G r o u p | http://www.GreenN8.org
| http://twitter.com/GreenN8
| https://www.youtube.com/GreenN8TV
Zipcar takes the fast lane with Streetcar acquisition
============================================================
Anti-competition watchdog provisionally allows UK's two biggest car clubs to merge
By Jessica Shankleman
18 Nov 2010
An acquisition that will combine the UK's two biggest car clubs has been
provisionally approved by the anti-competition regulator based on its
expectation that the market for car-sharing schemes will continue to grow
rapidly.
The UK's Competition Commission (CC) today confirmed
/pdf/38_10_zipcar_streetcar_pf.pdf> that it believes the sale of Streetcar,
the largest car club in London, to Zipcar, the second largest, is not
anti-competitive because other companies are likely to enter the market in
the coming years.
The booming car club market would therefore offset any chance of the
Zipcar/Streetcar merged company being able to raise prices or reduce its
services to customers, it said.
Zipcar first announced
http://www.businessgreen.com/bg/news/1807090/zipcar-snaps-streetcar...
car-club-powerhouse> it had bought Streetcar in April, but the Office of
Fair Trading subsequently referred the sale to the CC to decide whether it
would substantially reduce competition in the market.
The CC inquiry has provisionally concluded that new and expanding companies
will stop the expanded Zipcar from exploiting its market position. However,
t has asked interested parties to comment on its findings with an eye to
issuing a final report in January.
"This is a carefully weighed decision but the evidence we have seen of
credible expansion by existing players and plans by new entrants into this
market means that we have provisionally concluded that the right answer in
this case is to clear the merger," said chairman of the Zipcar/Streetcar
inquiry group Peter Davis.
"Industry estimates have car club membership numbers increasing eight-fold
over the next decade so this is a fast-growing and therefore potentially
attractive market for new and expanding providers, particularly in London,"
he added.
If approved in the final report, the deal could significantly bolster the
appeal of the car club model in the UK giving customers of both companies
access to an increased number of vehicles. The deal is also expected to act
as a springboard for the firm's planned expansion across Europe.
Scott Griffith, Zipcar chairman and chief executive, said he was pleased
with the findings, which represented an important milestone in the
regulatory review process.
"The companies are now a step closer to delivering important benefits to
both Zipcar and Streetcar members, including access to more cars in more
locations, a wider selection of vehicle makes and models, and improved
service levels," he said in a statement
.
"Streetcar members will benefit from being a part of a global car sharing
network by using their membership in cities around the world where Zipcar
already has a presence."
Zipcar claims to be the world's leading car club with more than 500,000
members and 8,000 vehicles throughout the US, Canada and the UK.
Streetcar founders to net £11m from sale
==========================================
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/transport/7621904/S...
Two university friends will net in the region of £11m after the UK’s largest car sharing group Streetcar was sold to US rival Zipcar.
Zipcar, the largest car hire group in the world with 360,000 members, will pay around $50m (£32.5m) in company stock to acquire Streetcar, of which Andrew Valentine and Brett Akker still own a third.
Mr Valentine and Mr Akker founded Streetcar in 2004 and have established a fleet of 1,400 cars across eight British cities, including London.
They met at university before taking on senior roles at P&O, the ferry group, and Mars, the confectioner, respectively.
[*Note from Site Admin: We've added the short explanation to the title at the request of Streetcar since apparently this post is being returned in Google results and the company is concerned that no misunderstanding results. We're happy to oblige.]
Tags for Forum Posts: CPZ, Parking, StreetCar, car sharing
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by John McMullan on
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Ah OK, I get it now. The obvious grammatical errors in your original post made me think it was some attempt to spoof many of our forum posts.
@GN8, do you know who the person responsible for granting them free parking in the borough was? I assume it was a councillor.
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Permalink Reply by Liz on
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What do Streetcar pay to park in other boroughs in non CPZs? Perhaps if someone can find that out, a letter to the relevant people could inquire as to why there isn't parity, (if it turns there isn't of course).
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Permalink Reply by GN8 on
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I am not sure who made the decision. I seem to recall B Haley was the environment/transport lead member at the time... But... Not sure councillors ever make any real decisions... It is my observation that they are often used as rubber stamps to make us feel we have a choice... In reality we do not elect representatives, we only choose who will administer an already defined plan!
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Permalink Reply by Nigel Lupton (luptonn) on
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Right, I obviously didn't have my Spoof Detectors working this morning.
It's all very well having a bit of fun but it's difficult to know in a forum such as this what is fact and what is fiction. Perhaps it's best to leave the spoofs up to a site such as The Onion (http://www.theonion.com/).
Your reply did get me interested so I decided to do a bit of research and this is what I found (links provided where possible).
Streetcar was founded by Andrew Valentine and Brett Akker. They have short biogs on streetcar:
http://www.streetcar.co.uk/media_6.aspx
I also managed to find a profile of Andrew Valentine:
http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/entrepreneur/article...
I haven't been able to find any mention of them being involved in oil exploration or oil drilling.
The chairman of Streetcar is Trevor Chinn, who cut his teeth working for Lex who are a large car fleet leasing company, which probably made him a good choice of chairman. A short profile can be found here
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trevor_Chinn
He was also Vice Chair of the Commission for Integrated Transport, which 'advises the government on Transport policies' (from
http://www.powerbase.info/index.php?title=Trevor_Chinn) and an advisor to CVC Capital Partners, which is presumably the investment company you refer to: http://www.itisholdings.plc.uk/article.asp?id=26
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In fairness to yourself Mr Lupton, if I did something like this I would expect it to be deleted. Perhaps the fact that it has raised a lot of very valuable debate has had something to do with it not being deleted.
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The original post or my sarky comment ? Either way, I agree an interesting discussion.
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The original post and the fact that it had a link back to the original poster's blog. Ho hum...
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Permalink Reply by pamish on
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This has driven me to look up an email I sent to LBH in April when Streetcar went borough-wide, and the reply.
Me: "I am curious to know why LB Haringey has only allowed one car rental scheme into the borough.
Streetcar may be cheap for a quick one-hour trip (except that means committing £60 p.a. joining fee) but prices much beyond that are twice that of a regular hire company. Seems to me that good old capitalist competition would help bring down prices and therefore encourage more people to join."
LBH: "Haringey Council decided to use a single car club operator contract to run the on street car club bays in the borough, as this approach offers certainty and simplicity to residents....Almost all car club members only ever join one car club so it is vital to them that they have the best choice of cars to use....If we had chosen to introduce a multi car club operator contract, then residents would have to [my italics] join more than one car club operator to ensure access to a vehicle close by, otherwise all we would have been doing would be to limit the amount of car club vehicles each resident could use to a level where no real network exists....The tenders were assessed against a wide range of criteria in which Streetcar were chosen because they demonstrated, through the tender submission process, the ability to offer best value for money for local residents and businesses, a proven ability to attract members and to operate the best quality service. ...Streetcar’s pricing structure we found to be competitive, simple and transparent."
In other words, don't answer the question so they give up asking.
PS My near-vintage car is still working fiine, and costs me about £800 pa all in, including fuel, so I stick with that for now as that £800 would cover five Streetcar weekends. The Freedom Pass keeps down my car mileage. Discourage driving by better and cheaper public transport, as Gn8 says.
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But I doubt that people who join street car use it for more than the occasional trip ( we certainly don't) and chances are they do use public transport. Fuel is included in the price of hire (you get a card to use to top up) it's fully insured and there is an excellent support service if there's a problem - you can contact them via the car, no need for a phone. It's a flat rate if you go over a number of hours, comparable to other hire companies, and you don't have the hassle of schlepping to Kings Cross or Palmers Green to pick up the car. My hubby is v. canny about cash and he wouldn't use it if it wasn't value for money.
I had some sympathy with those complaining about people in the wealthier parts of the borough paying to park, but complaining about Streetcar seems to be backward looking. Lots of folk use it around here, you can tell by how hard it can be to get a car at really short notice i.e. Less than 24 hours notice and so it is proving to be useful to local people. I would be very sorry if it withdrew from the borough.
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I'm anticipating that Oona my faithful Astra will not outlive me, so I am thinking about what to do when the Evil Rust (none yet) takes her out. I use her for the aforementioned occasional trips - cross town, late night, big shops - plus some longer weekends away. Costing so far is that it's cheaper to keep my own car, which BTW I share with two friends. Uncosted is the sheer selfish convenience of it being there whenever. Of course if I were sufficiently unconfident in my own identity to need/want something newer/bigger/more status-driven/more expensive, Streetcar would win ££-wise, hands down.
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I take it that your reply is in the same spoof spirit as the original post.
Let's just say that on the odd occasion that my family need to use a car, say once every couple of months, I don't sit in the passenger seat of a VW golf thinking I've finally arrived. It's just a metal box with 4 wheels, it serves a purpose. If I can find a way to not use a car we don't ( home delivery of shopping, trains to Manchester, for example). End of.
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