When is it time for a second car (and how the numbers tell you)

12. 8. 2026

"We are busy" is not a reason to buy a car. Busy tends to mean Tuesday and Thursday mornings, while on Friday afternoon you are parked. The decision about a second vehicle can rest on numbers you already have.

Four numbers that matter

1. Refused bookings. How many times a month did you say "nothing free"? The strongest signal there is — and the one nothing records by itself. The dispatcher has to note it, even as a tally on paper.

2. Share of rides in the peak. If seventy per cent of rides are squeezed into three hours a day, a second car will help there and stand idle the rest of the time. Staggering shifts may be enough.

3. Kilometres per ride. If the distance is growing, you are driving further or combining trips worse. A second car helps more here than where rides are short and merely numerous.

4. Cancellations marked "no vehicle". That is a refusal that arrived after a promise — and it damages trust more than anything else.

Cheaper steps to try first

moved slots for rides that are not time-critical,
return legs booked in advance, so the afternoon does not descend into chaos,
overlapping shifts across the peak,
casual cover on the one day a week that hurts,
an arrangement with a neighbouring village — sometimes sharing a car is enough.

Any of these costs an order of magnitude less than another vehicle, insurance, servicing and a driver.

If you do decide

Two things get forgotten. First: a second car means more dispatching, not just more rides. Second: for the first few months the new vehicle will run less than you expect — word that capacity has grown travels slowly.

And if the council funds the service, bring numbers to the meeting, not impressions. "In the last three months we refused 58 rides, 41 of them in the morning" does more work than an hour of explaining.

Ride counts, kilometres and cancellation reasons are in Statistics; the supporting document for the council prints as a monthly report.

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