City may ease rules for car-share firms

City council is looking at tweaks to parking regulations in a bid to lure car-sharing companies back to Calgary following Car2go’s exit from the city last year.

A set of proposals — including a relaxation of rules to allow carshare vehicles to park beyond posted time limits of one hour or more — was passed unanimously Wednesday by council’s transportation committee.

If approved by a full vote of council next month, the suite of changes would also include a new pricing structure for car-share companies when it comes to parking fees.

The proposed changes have been championed by at least one carshare firm, Quebec-based Communauto, which already operates in 14 other Canadian cities.

The company said it is considering a launch in Calgary as early as this spring.

Coun. Evan Woolley said the city has been in talks with two or three car-share companies since Car2go ended service in Calgary last October.

“I think a healthy system is one that is competitive,” said Woolley. “That we see multiple players so that we’re not left with our citizens relying on one company.

“Companies are going to rise and fall, and we want to make sure that we’ve got a regulatory framework that is flexible enough to adapt as the technology and the sharing economy evolves.”

A spokesman for Communauto who spoke to committee members Wednesday said the proposed relaxation on parking time limits is an important step.

“The posted time limit was a big issue for us because we can’t assure that a car won’t stay more than two hours in a place,” said Marco Viviani with Communauto.

“It’s in our interest that a car is used because this means that people need them, but we can’t assure and we don’t want to be fined for this.”

The city’s proposed tiered pricing model will ensure that where demand is highest for parking (i.e., the downtown commercial core), the per-vehicle price charged to car-share companies is higher.

But companies operating fully electric vehicles would be eligible for a 50 per cent discount on parking fees.

Overall, pricing for parking would be more flexible and in some cases cheaper than under the previous rules.

“If you have the all-in tier that included the downtown, that’ll be closer to the prices that Car2go was paying,” said Eric Macnaughton,

a senior transportation planner with the city. “But certainly we’ve adjusted the prices slightly to make sure that we are consistent with where other North American cities are at in terms of their pricing.”

Macnaughton said the city will be collecting data and monitoring to avoid car-share “clustering ” in areas with limited parking spaces. A car-share vehicle is typically moved five to six times per day, according to research cited by the city.

Viviani said more Calgarians will be able to give up their cars with the help of car-sharing services if the city proceeds with proposed changes.

Both Viviani and city bureaucrats said they hoped to see more car-sharing firms integrate and complement transit service in Calgary. In Quebec, Communauto discounts car-sharing membership fees for monthly transit-pass holders.

“To reduce car ownership with car-sharing you have to adapt the regulations. That’s what we asked for from the city,” said Viviani. “We can provide an added value, bringing a service that replaces car ownership and reduces the usage of cars.”