Carsharing in Edmonton

[Northern Light]

I was recently researching the issue of carsharing in Canada....

A phenomena that in some areas has taken off.

In Toronto, Montreal, Quebec and Vancouver, carsharing is a day-to day reality for many.

Example, in Toronto, something like 20,000 people are car share members, and the 2 carshare companies are adding something like 4,000 members per year.

But even in many smaller markets, the success has been notable....Halifax has 9 cars in its car-share, Kitchner-Waterloo in Ontario about a dozen, and Calgary around 8.

Yet Edmonton's local version only has 2 cars and very small market penetration.

Any thoughts on why this is?

For those not familiar with the local version of car-share, I have linked their site below.


http://www.carshareedmonton.ca/

For what a larger carshare looks like, see Toronto's Autoshare.

www.autoshare.com

[MalcolmTucker]

Car sharing was great in Toronto. If Edmonton city offered something like 20 spots for car share operators free within city lots along Whyte, to downtown, maybe near the universities and colleges, I wonder if one of the bigger fish would take the city up on the offer and expand.

[Habanero]

Carsharing has really taken off here in Calgary lately. Car2go http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Car2Go which recently fired up operations here is starting out with 200 cars.

Originally Posted by Surrealplaces

Off topic...... In my travels taking update photos the other day, I noticed several Car2go's driving around the downtown and Beltine area. Glad to see them getting used.


CAR2GO by Surrealplaces, on Flickr


CAR2GO by Surrealplaces, on Flickr

[Coldrsx]

Simply put, we need an established company such as Car2Go to set up shop.

[MalcolmTucker]

I am not sure Cars2Go is sustainable (not returning cars to designated spots), but I am glad someone is trying it out.

[Surrealplaces]

Originally Posted by Coldrsx

Simply put, we need an established company such as Car2Go to set up shop.

Originally Posted by MalcolmTucker

I am not sure Cars2Go is sustainable (not returning cars to designated spots), but I am glad someone is trying it out.

Car2Go has been very successful in Calgary. 300 cars and 15,000 users. Maybe Edmonton will be one of the next markets?

Calgary fastest growing car2go city worldwide

15,000 registered members in first 60 days

Read more: http://www.calgaryherald.com/Calgary...#ixzz2BeaOSaZV

[MalcolmTucker]

Short term growth and sustainability of the business is different, but they are a vertically integrated enterprise. If anyone can make the take (almost) anywhere drop (almost) anywhere model work, it is them.

[240glt]

I like the car-to-go idea.

Too bad they don't share a car that I wouldn't be embarassed to drive, though