There will be a lot less provincially-owned government vehicles on the roadways moving forward.

The province announced this week they are expanding their vehicle rental initiative into Moose Jaw, Swift Current and Regina.

The move will now see the government use Enterprise Rent-A-Car instead of having to own them in each of the locations.  

Ken Cheveldayoff, central services minister for the Saskatchewan government, said it was much more costly to have those vehicles sitting there on standby.

"It meant the government had to expend the capital to buy the vehicles," he said. "Often times they were just sitting there waiting for someone to use. Now when we have a partnership with the private sector, we're able to use the vehicles on an as-needed basis and it's working very well."    

According to the Saskatchewan Party, last year's one-year pilot project in Saskatoon, North Battleford, and Prince Albert saved $275,000 and that number will balloon to $400,000 with the project now being offered in three major hubs in the southern part of the province.

Cheveldayoff believes it was important to add Swift Current to the list this time around.

"Well Swift Current is a central area for a large part of the province for the southwest part of the province," Cheveldayoff explained as to why Swift Current was included. "There is a need for vehicle usage there and we wanted to make sure Swift Current was included."  

He also indicated they will be looking to expand the vehicle rental project into every city in Saskatchewan at some point but for now, will monitor the six places they have chosen to make sure it's working.