Be Part Of The Greener Transportation Solution – Join Efforts To Launch A Niagara Community CarShare Program

 (A few years ago, a handful of people in Buffalo, New York launched a CarSharing program, aimed at getting people where they need to go without the costly burdens of car ownership. You can learn more about that program by visiting www.BuffaloCarShare.org . Now there is a move afoot to launch a similar program in Niagara, Ontario. Niagara At Large encourages you to read the following post by Melissa Hellwig to learn about the time and places of upcoming meetings and how you can get involved in something that could save all of us money and reduce the number of cars on the road.)

By Melissa Hellwig

In Buffalo, New York it was a dynamic student population wanting to practice in real life the private enterprise examples they were studying. In Grand River, Ontario it began as ten friends who hung out together and decided they might as well start co-owning resources.

Whatever the motivating factor – finances, environmental responsibility or convenience, car sharing is taking off globally. Ten years ago a handful of people would have heard the term. Now, even though over 78 000 Canadians car share – most people still have little to no understanding of how it works. For the people who have signed up as members of the Community Car Share/Grand River Car Share in neighbouring Hamilton, Kitchener-Waterloo (and beyond) however, they are pocketing the rewards.

Early this year, Niagara, Ontario took its first steps towards capturing a critical mass of people who could get the Niagara Community Car share off the ground. The Grand River (or Community) Car Share cooperative has extended its reach to Niagara and has a simple formula – they need three vehicles, which require 60 paid members and thus a staff position, and voila – a car share is born. http://communitycarshare.ca/grandriver/my-community/niagara-region-expansion/

Think that isn’t possible? This only took the Hamilton Community Car Share franchise six months to accomplish.

For 14 years, this cooperative model has worked very well. Members have effectively retired some 250 cars off the road.

The details….car sharing is viable for folks who drive less than 12 000 km annually. It is especially useful for those who have flexible schedules, who work for large agencies with fleets, who are self-employed or semi-retired. Students, professors, consultants, people who work part-time or those who rarely use their second car are the ideal customer.

Membership is thought a choice of payment structures, times are booked online and locations are centralized, according to linkages with transit, centres of employment and community services. In Kitchener-Waterloo and Hamilton, the municipalities are even setting aside parking spaces for future car sharing hubs.

The ratio is one car to 29 people. There are about 700 locations nation-wide with numerous car sharing organizations. Compared to conventional car ownership, there are major savings to be gained, in the order of $3000 annually (see http://www.ecologyaction.ca/content/carsharing statistics from the CAA).

So, to be blunt, we need you. We need 60 people, a simple formula – willing and able to share three vehicles. They need to be located in a centralized place, city centres, universities, dense multi-residential developments, large institutions and businesses.

I first saw car sharing in San Francisco, often touted as the most sustainable city in North America. From the time someone left the car in the parking lot to when another person swiped their membership card over the drivers lock and drove away was 8 minutes. Eight minutes.

Sure, say, well it’s a city, it’s easier etc., etc. But with an incredible public transport system there, compact infrastructure and abundant services, is that really true? Could it not be replicated in regional areas, where services are spread out, and there is little or no transit? We believe so. Niagara needs it.

In Kitchener-Waterloo and Hamilton, the municipalities are even setting aside parking spaces for future car sharing hubs.

On so many levels it is a great concept. It supports low-income people, reduces the need for more costly road infrastructure and builds community. It is simple – it is a grassroots, human solution to a large institutionalized problem – the more roads you build the more cars drive on them and then you need to build more roads.

Put it in reverse. More car shares, fewer cars, fewer roads, fewer tax hikes and thus more disposable income to spend on improving other aspect of our communities.

Let me know if you can join us for an information session. Next meetings are in St Catharines and Welland on March 8. To register – email me mhellwig@stcatharines.ca or call me on 905 688 5601 x1703

Melissa Hellwig is a Niagara resident and a corporate planning officer at the City of St. Catharines, Ontario’s board at Niagara Sustainability Initiative.

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