The city is consolidating the passenger vehicle fleets of six departments and implementing a reservation-and-checkout system under a pilot project that aims to reduce the number of vehicles in its fleet.

The pilot program, to be overseen by the Department of Facility Maintenance, is scheduled to begin Thursday.

"The goal is to become more efficient and cost-effective," Westley Chun, Department of Facility Maintenance director, said Tuesday in a news release. "We hope to expand our consolidated motor pool program to include other city departments."

The pilot motor pool fleet will comprise 44 vehicles from Facility Maintenance and the Departments of Budget and Fiscal Services, Human Resources, Information Technology, Transportation Services and Customer Services.

An automated reservation system will be used by city employees to reserve, check out and return vehicles, enabling the Department of Facility Maintenance to track vehicle usage, according to the city. The automated system will rely on existing security features.

The city said it expects to see a reduction in the number of passenger vehicles in its fleet through improved use and lower maintenance costs.