Transportation

Local car share needs someone to take the wheel

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A recent Statistics Canada survey showing that Edmonton is the most car-addicted city in the country is just one more indication that Edmonton’s car-sharing program needs to start growing.

The Carsharing Co-operative of Edmonton has plans to expand its current fleet of one car—a 1999 Toyota Tercel the group has used since it was founded in 2000—to two vehicles this year, adding a car based in the Oliver area, where they are looking for more volunteers to help branch out the service.

Car-sharing organizations, in which members share the use of a vehicle and only pay for the amount they use it, have been gaining popularity in North America in recent years. There are now car-sharing groups in 15 cities across Canada, from major urban centres like Vancouver and Montréal to smaller municipalities like Nelson, BC and Kitchener, Ontario.

While some cities boast memberships in the thousands, Edmonton’s program has had a harder time expanding.

According to Myles Kitagawa, the secretary and one of eight users of the co-op’s vehicle, the biggest roadblock (pun intended) to evolving the co-op to its fullest potential in the city is the fact that they can’t currently afford to fund a position that would coordinate the program.

“We all have day jobs but this could easily become somebody’s day job,” says Kitagawa. “We know it works and we’ve proven to ourselves that it’s more economical.”

At the beginning of the year, Statistics Canada released a report that showed Edmonton as the most car-dependent city in Canada, with 77 per cent of residents dependent on vehicles. Kitagawa says that the co-op is an option for people who feel they can’t make it in the city without access to a car.

“Our program is a supplemental mobility program,” Kitagawa says. “We want to provide another transportation option that makes sense economically and environmentally.”

Like its Edmonton counterpart, the Calgary Alternative Transportation Co-operative (CATCO) started with one vehicle but has since grown to a fleet of eight, with a full-time staff member overseeing the organization.

The person currently in the position is coordinator Cody Torgerson, whose salary is paid for by grant money, fundraising and donations from Calgary businesses, which include a parking spot and even one of the group’s vehicles.

“Grant money definitely allows you to dedicate that time to make sure it keeps going,” Torgerson says.

Calgary, which was ranked second as the country’s most auto-addicted city with 75 per cent, has a membership of about 180 in its program and it’s growing to the point where CATCO is almost self-sufficient.

Kitagawa says that grant money originally got their program started but it takes time to apply for grants and to administer them, which is just another reason why the Edmonton co-op needs someone like Torgerson who is able to make it at least their part-time job.

He hopes that a group or individual will see the need and the economic potential of this program.

“It’s just an untapped opportunity,” he says, taking a sip of his tea. “It’s an opportunity that’s waiting for someone to respond to.”

When Clayton Dickson moved to Edmonton in 2001, he had convinced himself that he needed to buy a vehicle. But after catching word about the program, he quickly joined and says he has reaped the benefits ever since.

“Even paying more to live near the university, I’m still saving money by not owning a vehicle,” says Dickson, an associate professor of psychology at the University of Alberta. “If you consider the depreciation of a vehicle, if you consider the cost of insurance and the gas, really, what you’re paying for is to park it most of the time and it doesn’t really make any sense.”

Dickson says he also uses the LRT, the bus, his bike and rents a vehicle when he wants to venture out of the city since the co-op car is for city use only.

“Renting a car is so economically viable it’s crazy,” he says.

During the year that Kitagawa and his wife used the co-op car the most, they paid less than $3000, a sum which Kitagawa says means he saves thousands of dollars each year but always has access to a car if he needs one to get to a destination.

“Imagine some salesman coming up to you and saying, ‘Look, I want to sell you a machine. This machine is going to cost you $27 000, plus $7000 to $9000 a year in operating costs, you’re going to use it for two hours a day [and] there are much more economical alternatives to it,’” Kitagawa says, shaking his head. “Most people wouldn’t buy that machine.”

With the car being driven about 10 000 kilometres a year between eight people, the environmental footprint is substantially less than if each of those members were driving their own vehicles.

“It also forces people to use alternate means of transportation like the public transit system,” Dickson says. “You don’t drive your car to the neighbourhood convenience store.”

Both Kitagawa and Dickson admit that this program doesn’t make sense for everyone, but they feel that it should be a transportation option that’s available to Edmontonians.

“I think it’s just a matter of time that the irrationality of private car ownership is going to naturally dawn on increasing numbers of people,” Kitagawa says.

To join, members must pay an application fee of $25 and submit a driver’s abstract. If their driving abstract is clear, there are one-time setup costs of $55, which covers a key and orientation. Members must also buy $400 in shares in the co-op, which are sold back when the member leaves. The only regular costs are a $10 monthly fee that covers insurance and usage charges of $2.50 per hour plus 40 cents for every kilometre driven. For any questions regarding the program, email Myles Kitagawa, secretary of the Carsharing Co-op of Edmonton at mylesck@gmail.com. V

Transportation

Local car share needs someone to take the wheel

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