Car-pooling is great, if your co-poolers don't drive you crazy … but pooling has rolled down that long lonesome road to a new stage of evolution: car-sharing.
by J. Cates
On any given day on any given road, you'll see someone using hundreds of kilos worth of metal, plastic, rubber, petroleum products, batteries, and glass, all at enormous expense, just to haul their carcass off to work, or maybe only as far as the corner store to buy a can of cat food.
What's wrong with this picture?
Certainly there's nothing wrong with going to work or feeding the cat; we're strongly in favour of those things. But when everyone thinks they need to own their own car to do these things, as the advertisers would have us believe, the result is an environmental nightmare, as the auto industry becomes a black hole that sucks in a variety of resources needed for each new vehicle.
Now there's a more energy efficient, environmentally friendly, and cheaper way to do it: car-sharing. And the fringe benefit is, since you save money on car expenses, you won't have to work so hard in order to keep driving. You can keep on truckin' without using your own truck.
Car pooling isn't new, but it's frequently on an ad hoc basis: if your neighbour goes to work in the same direction as you, you can share rides and save on some expenses while relieving a bit of highway congestion, and that's all to the good. But the drawback of car pools is that, usually, each person still owns their own car, and cars spend most of their lives sitting unused until the day they're fit for nothing but landfill, or partially recycled (usually at taxpayer-subsidized expense), or just abandoned by the side of a road somewhere.
Car-sharing takes car-pooling one step further. The concept saw the light of day in Berlin in 1988, which now has a variety of vehicles spread among 14 parking areas. There are now estimated to be more than 100,000 car sharers in Europe.
In Canada, Vancouver, Victoria, Ottawa, Toronto, Montreal, and Quebec City now have car sharing organizations, with smaller centres of population still in the formative stages.
A car-sharing group can be a cooperative or a non-profit organization; there's a fee to join, with future expenses based on the amount of usage. The big savings come not only from shared ownership of the vehicles, but from sharing the major expenses of insurance, maintenance, and even automobile association membership.
And there are some very big perks–such as (in Vancouver, at least) being able to park the vehicle in any permit zone in the city.
Those who are encountering the concept of car sharing for the first time frequently ask these questions: How can a car be booked? How often can I use a car, and for how long? Can I take it to work? Who takes care of the maintenance? And, of course, how much is it going to cost me?
The cost to members depends entirely upon how much use they make of a vehicle.
Vancouver's Co-operative Auto Network (CAN) offers a good example of how car-sharing groups operate (and is not just limited to Vancouver, but has vehicles available in Tofino and Nanaimo on Vancouver Island). Three plans are available, depending on the amount of usage a member requires.
- High usage (more than 250 km per month: $35 a month, and $1.50 an hour or $15 a day, plus 15 a kilometre.
- Moderate usage (100-250 km per month): $10 a month, and $1.50 an hour or $15 a day, plus 25 a kilometre.
- Low usage (less than 100 km per month): $50 a year, and $1.50 an hour or $15 a day, plus 30 a kilometre.
(There is also a $20 non-refundable registration fee, and a one-time share purchase of $500, refundable after leaving, after six months.)
An added benefit for members of CAN car-sharing groups on the islands is that they can bus to the city–avoiding major ferry costs and line ups–and pick up a car after they hit town.
There are a few criteria for joining: a good credit rating, three years of driving, a BC Driver's License (or willingness to get one), three or fewer speeding tickets in five years, no at-fault accidents in three years, and no criminal convictions under the Motor Vehicle Act.
After joining, booking a vehicle is easy. The office is staffed 24 hours a day and will need to know the day, time, and location needed. A booking can be made on short notice, but advance notice means you can get the closest vehicle. Except for a 30-minute minimum, there are no restrictions on the amount of usage.
Cars are insured for any need, including work, and carry third-party liability to $5 million, plus collision and comprehensive, with a $500 deductible.
Members get a key to a lock box that contains the car key. There are cooperative arrangements for gassing up, cleaning the vehicles, and inspecting for damage, but members do not have to go to a mechanic, ever: CAN staff will administer the maintenance schedule. Of course, they do have to pay for the costs of any infractions they incur.
Anchors for baby seats, and bike racks and roof racks (in some vehicles) are among the advantages.
CAN estimates the average cost of driving your own vehicle in Vancouver's Lower Mainland area to be $ 0.564 a kilometre, or $8,000 a year. They calculate monthly expenses of about $200 a month for financing and/or purchasing, $100-plus for insurance, $50 for gas, and $50 for maintenance, and that's not even including the cost of depreciation and parking.
CAN says its members pay an average of only $74 a month. The vehicles offered include Mazdas, Toyotas, Fords, Hondas, and others, available in four-doors, hatchbacks, station wagons, mini-vans, and a short-box truck. They're planned for four years' usage.
The plans of other organizations may vary from Vancouver's: for example, the Victoria Car Share Co-op asks a $400 share purchase, has a variable usage fee, and requires a monthly administration fee of $20 (which isn't billed in months of no usage.)
A list of car sharing contacts follows. Those who feel that car sharing is unfair to auto manufacturers, petroleum producers, and big insurance companies need not apply.
* Co-operative Auto Network, 209-470 Granville St, Vancouver, BC V6C 1V5; ph: (604)685-1393; www.cooperativeauto.net
* Victoria Car Share Co-op; Box 23025, #4-313 Cook St, Victoria, BC V8V 3K0; ph: (250)995-0265; fax: (250)995-0206; email: carshare@pinc.com; Website: www.com/~carshare
* Ottawa Co-transportation Organizing Committee; phone: (613)230-4566; email: chris@ties.ottawa.on.ca
* AutoShare–Toronto, Ontario; phone: (416)465-1366; email: lizren@interlog.com
* Auto-Com–Montreal and Quebec City; ph: (418)523-1788; email (Montreal): communauto@mtl.net; email (Quebec City): autocom@clic.net
* On Cortes Island, in BC's northern Gulf Islands, those interested in forming a car sharing co-op may call: Delia Becker at (250)935-6421, or (pager) 830-9162. Since car-sharing is responsive to local needs, Cortes Islanders hope to have a four-wheel-drive pickup truck for their first vehicle.