The Bay of Plenty Regional Council is aiming to reduce costs by making efficiency changes to its vehicle fleet with fewer cars operating.

The council's finance and corporate committee chairperson Paula Thompson says they have looked closely at how the council's fleet worked and has succeeded in making savings by reducing the number of vehicles and using them better.

'It's great to see the council has reduced costs and increased efficiency, while still performing effectively,” says Paula.

'The trend over the last three years is very positive and we're confident it can continue.”

Corporate property manager Annabel Bridge says the savings have come by reducing the number of cars, having more diesel and less petrol vehicles and reducing the number of 4WDs.

'We are making smarter purchasing decisions and using our fleet more efficiently,” says Annabel.

'Although we travel more each year, over the past three years we've managed to reduce our vehicle fleet by nearly 10 percent – without affecting our performance.

'Diesel vehicles are now more fuel efficient and cleaner burning so we have more in the fleet – they also don't need servicing as often.

'We have also negotiated good rates with our supplier and we are buying more fuel, but our costs have stayed much the same,” says Annabel.