Virgin Trains East Coast has partnered with Enterprise Car Club, meaning that vehicles will now be located at smaller stations along the East Coast Main Line.
Enterprise claimed that Virgin Trains East Coast – which operates services from London to major destinations including Aberdeen, Edinburgh, Leeds and York – is the first train operating company to integrate car club service into smaller city stations.
Doncaster, Durham, Peterborough and Wakefield are the first railway stations to go live with the new service, with the rental giant planning to extend this to other smaller stations in the near future.
The car club vehicles are located in station car parks and can be booked online and accessed using a smartphone or membership card, and can be used 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
“Integrating with key transport hubs is the next evolution of car clubs. They are quickly becoming the go-to option for people who want fast, easy access to a vehicle, wherever they are and at any time. This makes car clubs an excellent option for the increasing number of people who want to ‘train/drive’ as a logical solution for sustainable business and leisure travel,” said Dan Gursel, Enterprise Car Club managing director. “Integrating car clubs, especially at smaller city stations, offers the train customer an easy solution and is a truly innovative approach to broaden travel options for everyone. Virgin Trains East Coast is very much leading the way in this area, and we are very pleased to have been chosen as its partner for this new service.”
Tim Hedley-Jones, major projects director for Virgin Trains East Coast, said: “We are delighted to be launching this partnership with Enterprise Car Club. It’s important to us that customers have a great door-to-door experience with Virgin Trains East Coast, which is why we have invested £50m in on-board refurbishments and improvements. Making our stations even more convenient for onward travel is the next natural step.”