Does Calgary have a problem with car2go ‘clusters’?
With the number of Calgarians using car-sharing services reaching 10 per cent of the overall population, the city has compiled the first snapshot of the parking activity of companies such as car2go since council enacted rules governing such services in 2015.
Administrators told the city’s transportation committee that rules designed to discourage “clustering” — when car2go vehicles take up a large portion of available parking spaces — are working and that car-sharing companies are largely abiding by street parking rules and paying the penalties when there are violations.
But some councillors say they’re hearing complaints from their constituents that car2go vehicles are taking up too much of the available spaces for too long, or that the Calgary Parking Authority is not enforcing the rules.
A spokesperson for Britannia Shopping Plaza also told the committee Wednesday that the southwest commercial plaza is frequently occupied by car2go vehicles that overstay the two-hour limit, and that their calls to the Calgary Parking Authority (CPA) have gone unheeded.
“(The) policy is failing these residents,” Coun. Jeromy Farkas told the committee.
But according to the city’s standards, clustering isn’t happening.
The city doesn’t begin to look for clustering issues unless the street is already significantly congested. In 2017, the only commercial areas where parking occupancies were above 80 per cent was Chinatown on Saturdays and Riley Park on weekdays around the lunch hour.
In both areas, car2go vehicles accounted for around one per cent of the available parking that period.
The financial penalty enacted by council to discourage clustering doesn’t apply in congested commercial spaces unless the number of car2go vehicles exceeds 25 per cent of the available spaces.
“I think part of the difficulty we’re having in this conversation is the definition of clustering does not apply to what’s actually happening in the real world,” Farkas said.
But the city and the CPA argued that car-sharing services are subject to the same parking rules as private vehicles.
Administration also pointed to a 30 per cent drop in the average monthly ticket payments made by car-sharing organizations between 2015 and 2017 as evidence that the city’s rules are prompting companies to proactively move and redistribute vehicles.
Part of the problem, administration said, is one of perception.
That view was echoed by innercity councillor Evan Woolley, who also said he believes the rules are working and that car-sharing in general is working well for Calgarians.
“To throw out anecdotes, when you’ve got one or two calls in the thousands and thousands of trips that are happening, is not smart, in my opinion,” Woolley said.
And the city says the benefits that come from ride-sharing services far outweigh concerns over parking.
Administrators cited a 2016 study from University of California Berkeley that estimated that a single car2go vehicle eliminated up to 11 privately-owned vehicles from Calgary roads, and eliminated up to 14 metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions.
Car2Go is currently the only ride-sharing company operating in Calgary.