CAR SHARING FITS NEW URBAN NEEDS
Advantages of car2go include free parking in pricey downtown, writes Richard White.
Calgarians love car2go, so much so that our city has the secondhighest number of members at 80,000, not far behind Vancouver at 88,000. And if you factor in that Vancouver has 750 vehicles versus Calgary’s 425, we actually have the most members per vehicle in North America.
Both cities have comparable “home areas” (the area of the city where you are allowed to park your vehicle for free) with Vancouver’s area being 120 square kilometres and Calgary’s 115.
Calgary is way ahead of other large cities, including Toronto (43,000 members), Seattle (U.S. leader with 67,000 members), Austin (car2go headquarters has 53,000) and Portland (35,000 members).
However, the number of memberships is perhaps not the best measurement of car2go usage as a city could have lots of members, but many might not be very active. (I must confess I joined in the first few weeks that car2go memberships were offered in Calgary, but never used it. A friend who joined with me has used it only few times).
Car2go’s spokesperson, Dacyl Armendariz, confirms Calgary ranks second and Vancouver first when it comes to utilization rates, the amount of time the vehicles in the fleet in any given city are used by that membership.
WHY DO CALGARIANS LOVE CAR2GO?
One of the obvious reasons Calgarians have embraced car2go is that it offers free downtown parking, a big advantage given our downtown has some of the highest parking rates in North America.
In some ways, car2go is Calgary’s equivalent to a bike share program. For Calgary’s climate and geography, cars are more versatile than bikes for meeting most people’s everyday needs year-round. And, they can operate with existing infrastructure.
Harry Hiller, a sociology professor at the University of Calgary, thinks Calgary’s demographics make it an ideal city for a car-share program.
“Most of the migration to Calgary in the last 15 years has been young adults between 18 to 35. Most of these people come on speculation, wanting to try out the job market but without major resources,” he says. “In my view, this is the most important explanation for why Calgary ranks so high on the user rankings and on a per-capita basis, even surpasses Vancouver.”
Other reasons Hiller thinks young Calgarians might love car2go include the system is most effective with smartphones, and young adults are most familiar with the usage of smartphones for many things, including our Park Plus program.
Additionally, youth are more interested in experimentation than older adults, and the small, one-time membership fee encourages younger people to experiment with the system.
He adds that, “for young adults just beginning their career the benefits of car ownership without the ongoing costs of gas, insurance, repairs and parking is very attractive.”
Hiller also speculates that without car2go, the N3 condo in East Village with no parking for residents probably would not have happened. Remember, the cost of a condo without a parking stall is $50,000 less than one with, which is very attractive to a young first-time buyer.
Car2go confirmed the vast majority of Calgary members are 25 to 35 years of age, but also indicated members range from 18 to 90-plus year of age.
TRANSIT AND BIKE LANES ARE FACTORS
Another factor in Calgarians’ enthusiasm for car2go could be the public transit system to downtown ( bus and LRT) is filled to capacity. This also means on weekdays LRT suburban “park and ride” lots are full — making it difficult to use the LRT for short daytime trips to downtown, SAIT or University of Calgary.
Bus service at non-peak times is infrequent on most routes, making it less than ideal for short meetings or evening and weekend travel. In the winter, you have to wait outside to catch transit versus a quick walk to the nearest car2go (pre-determined by checking on your cellphone).
One might argue while Calgary has arguably the best recreational bike paths in the world, it lacks functional bike lanes for running errands, getting to the yoga studio or dentist, shopping at the closest grocery store or mall and getting to work downtown or elsewhere.
It is not surprising that by far the most popular destination for Calgary car2go members is downtown, representing 20 per cent of all trips. Downtown is so popular that in March, Calgary’s city council received sufficient complaints about car2go vehicles taking up too many of the downtown street parking spaces they decided to restrict their vehicles on any given downtown block to 25 per cent of the designated parking spaces. Other popular destinations are SAIT, University of Calgary, Mount Royal University, Chinook and Market Mall.
LAST WORD
From Hiller’s perspective as an urban sociologist “the interesting question is whether car2go encourages density.” He believe it does as it gives urban residents a transportation option that fills in the gaps where public transportation does not go or is less convenient. “Having access to a car when you need it, but without paying for storage or insurance, gives the high-density dweller a sense of freedom they don’t have when they depend totally on public transportation.”
He also points out “car2go is a remarkable adaptation to the new post-modern urban world in which ownership is not as important as it once was and flexibility is increasing in importance. I think car2go promotes a new kind of urban sustainability where sharing is more important than ownership.”
There definitely seems to be a symbiotic relationship developing between car2go and Calgary’s increasingly more attractive greater downtown urban communities.