Business owners are turning to alternate car schemes as the recession continues to affect expenditure, with pay-as-you-go car clubs proving ever more popular.

Large corporations are frequently discarding their business fleets in the face of high fuel and maintenance costs in favour of shared arrangements.

Streetcar, a car sharing rental business that operates in seven major cities has revealed that membership has doubled in the past year with latest figures placing numbers at around 75,000. The group is aiming to reach quarter of a million members in the next three years. Streetcar was founded five years ago by partners Brett Akker and Andrew Valentine following the lead of a similar scheme in the US.

Streetcar has increased its turnover in the past two years to reach a figure of £19 million primarily due to business clients, who number around 2,000, that are trying to reduce costs by instigating pooling plans. Other major clients include Eurostar and Kellogs several local councils.

Other companies such as City Car Club, which recently bought out competitor Whizzgo are spread across the UK with notable strength in Manchester and Leeds, while Streetcar dominates the southern market around Brighton and London. City Car Club has around 16,000 members who have access to vehicles in 15 different cities.

The scheme operates under an annual membership fee which provides access to a range of vehicles parked at specific locations around the country. The strong recent growth has been seen as somewhat of a threat to established hire car companies, some of whom have adopted their own sharing scheme.