Car-Sharing: Where and How It Succeeds (2005) / Chapter Skim
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Pages 135-190
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From page 135... ...
A review of the literature on car-sharing, as well as a 2004 survey and 72 personal and phone interviews conducted for this research study, reveals a wide range of potential partner organizations. Survey and interview respondents included cities, counties, state and regional agencies, rideshare agencies, universities, developers and property managers, employers and businesses, transit agencies, consultants, community advocates, a church, and car-sharing operators.
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From page 136... ...
A total of 72 interviews were held to encompass the breadth of partner organizations. This included interviews 1.
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From page 137... ...
Appendix C lists the names of these partner organizations. Exhibit 5-1 Partner Survey Respondents and Interviewees Type of Partner Organization Survey Respondents Interview Respondents City or county 14 27 Regional Agency 5 2 Public utility 1 State agency 2 1 Rideshare/TDM agency 6 1 University 7 9 Developer/Property manager 2 10 Community/Advocacy group 3 Religious institution 1 Employer 1 6 Transit Agency 11 Consultants to government & developers 2 2 Architect 1 Vehicle/Service provider*
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From page 138... ...
Before the Partnership 38 32% 37% 29% 3% Currently 42 7% 24% 43% 26% Change -25% -13% +14% +24% The impacts of car-sharing – for example on vehicle ownership, vehicle travel and air quality? Before the Partnership 38 21% 50% 24% 5% Currently 42 5% 17% 55% 24% Change -16% -33% +31% +19% Figures may not add up to 100% due to rounding.
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From page 139... ...
Car-Sharing: Where and How It Succeeds Page 5-5 The assistance mentioned by partners in the survey can be broadly summarized in the following categories: • Marketing • Administration • Parking • Financial contributions • Memberships • Planning, policy, and tax issues • Transit integration Sections 5.4 through 5.9 describe these categories in detail with extensive examples culled from the survey, the literature search and the partner interviews. attitudes toward Subsidies of Car-Sharing Seed money can be invaluable in conducting feasibility studies and helping a car-sharing operation get up and running.
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From page 140... ...
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 Reduces parking demand Provides mobility options Improves air quality Reduces vehicle travel Increases transit ridership Provides more affordable transportation options Supports our organization's environmental image Provides a benefit or amenity for our employees Provides a benefit or amenity for our tenants Helps secure development approvals Reduces our company/organization's vehicle fleet size Other Number of respondents Most important benefit Benefit to our organization
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From page 141... ...
To focus prospective partners on what others have done in their industry, the following sections present profiles of five different types of partners: • Local governments • Transit agencies • Employers and businesses • Developers • Universities Each profile then outlines the strategies used by the partner organizations to help promote car-sharing. The profile begins with a discussion of the goals and benefits the partners hope to achieve.
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From page 142... ...
It also increases the awareness among both users and non-users about the true costs of driving. The City of Seattle, WA is one of the local governments that shares these goals, listing reduced VMT, reduced vehicle ownership, more mobility, and more awareness of the costs of driving as aims of its car-sharing program.
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From page 143... ...
Reduced car ownership is sometimes a means to reducing vehicle travel, but is often an end in itself. Households owning one or more cars in transitoriented and dense neighborhoods are often seen as a primary target group, since there is a potential to reduce car ownership in these areas.
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From page 144... ...
In rare cases, the agency may even start its own car-sharing organization, as with the City of Aspen, CO which launched Roaring Fork Valley Vehicles in 2001. For more information about procurement of car-sharing by local governments, see Chapter 7, Procurement and Monitoring.
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From page 145... ...
In most cases, it takes the form of an in-kind contribution, but in some cases the marketing is a more extensive, grantsupported activity. Assistance can be of many different types, such as information on websites and in newsletters; distribution of materials at transportation fairs and employer outreach events; media coverage through issuing press releases; and provision of on-street parking spaces as a means to promote car-sharing.
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From page 146... ...
City staff has also invested a great deal of time in the initial phase of the project, to investigate the potential of introducing a car-sharing fleet and to apply for grants for hybrid vehicles. Other cities have committed Exhibit 5-8 Arlington County's parking and transit maps highlight the locations of car-sharing vehicles.
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From page 147... ...
Exhibit 5-9 Seattle's One Less Car Challenge Seattle has incorporated car-sharing into its One Less Car Challenge program, which aims to increase walking, biking and transit ridership by helping households to give up their cars. There are two levels of commitment.
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From page 148... ...
A process has been set up to locate new parking spaces as PCS expands: 1. PCS meets with neighborhood community groups, to assess the level of interest in having a carsharing vehicle in the neighborhood and where it should be located.
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From page 149... ...
The preface of the license agreement supports car-sharing by stating, "the availability of Zipcars for use by the residents of Brookline reduces their need for personal automobiles, reduces vehicular congestion and auto-generated pollution, reduces the demand for parking spaces, and represents an important element of a comprehensive and balanced transportation system." (See Appendix D for full document.) The City of Portland has perhaps had the greatest experience with on-street parking.
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From page 150... ...
Sometimes the property owners object, which is taken into account. Currently, on-street parking spaces are only provided in neighborhoods with lower parking demand, which do not have parking meters or residential permits.
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From page 151... ...
. A large part of local governments' financial contributions come from external grants, which provide seed money for new vehicles, hybrids, start-up support or other specific purposes.
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From page 152... ...
Seed money can be seen as the most valuable type of financial contribution a local government can provide. It can finance feasibility studies and help a car-sharing organization get up and running.
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From page 153... ...
Roaring Fork Valley Vehicles recently received money from the City of Aspen's Housing Department for a new vehicle. This money had been set aside for alternative transportation for affordable housing.
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From page 154... ...
. This fit well with the original intent of the grant, which was provided to reduce vehicle travel and greenhouse gas emissions.
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From page 155... ...
Costs from the monthly stipend program are also negligible, since few managers have signed up. Therefore, the Personal Auto Program does not significantly impact savings from the overall vehicle reduction program.
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From page 156... ...
Other cities and counties have introduced similar programs, but on a smaller scale – for example, with individual departments joining as a regular corporate member (e.g. the Transportation Services department at the City of Vancouver and Clark County in Washington State)
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From page 157... ...
In the Planning Process Government jurisdictions are including car-sharing as a strategy in transportation and environmental planning documents, in view of the expected benefits. Car-sharing is featured in Montreal's Action Plan for Reducing Greenhouse Gases; Boston's Citywide Transportation Plan; Seattle's Transportation Strategic Plan (TSP)
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From page 158... ...
Encourage Car-Sharing Continue to suppor t Seattle's car-sharing organizations. Car-sharing helps extend the public transportation network, increases transportation choices, reduces the land devoted to parking spaces, and reduces the overall number of car trips and vehicle miles traveled (VMT)
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From page 159... ...
Rather than paying a parking mitigation fee, the developers will contribute $60,000 to Roaring Fork Valley Vehicles, which is enough to pay for the leasing and operation of one vehicle for 10 years. • Arlington County, VA is another local government that offers generous reductions in parking requirements.
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From page 160... ...
Seattle modified its Land Use Code to incorporate car-sharing, but does not automatically allow a net parking reduction. Instead, the change addressed issues related to commercial use of residential spaces (see Chapter 6)
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From page 161... ...
Cities could waive or reduce requirements for other transportation infrastructure for developments that incorporate car-sharing, or take the provision of car-sharing into account when assessing impact fees to mitigate new vehicle trips. While this concept is similar to granting flexibility in parking requirements, it does not appear to have been used yet in North America, even though traffic impact analysis guidelines adopted by several agencies (for example, the Valley Transportation Authority in Santa Clara County, CA)
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From page 162... ...
Qualifying measures include ride sharing, public transportation, car-sharing, and nonmotorized commuting. Employers and property managers who provide these financial incentives may claim a credit on their tax return equal to 50% of the incentive paid to or on behalf of the employee, less any employee contributions.
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From page 163... ...
Transit agencies that provide rail service have often proved the most logical partners for car-sharing operators. However, there are several examples of bus-based agencies as well, notably King County Metro in the Seattle region.
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From page 164... ...
Some transit agencies, such as King County Metro in the Seattle region and Metro North in New York, have been more proactive in developing the partnership. King County staff had been following car-sharing in Europe, particularly the integration with transit.
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From page 165... ...
Exhibit 5-19 The Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority promotes car-sharing on its website Exhibit 5-20 King County Metro and partners promote car-sharing to ferry commuters.
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From page 166... ...
Several agencies, such as WMATA and SEPTA, offer their most visible parking spaces, such as kiss-and-ride spaces and others that are located close to the station. As with local governments, transit agencies differ in whether they charge a car-sharing operator for parking and face several of the same conflicts.
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From page 167... ...
Transit agencies rarely provide direct financial support for car-sharing; where they do, it usually comes from grants and external funding rather than operating budgets. Staff at Metro North feels strongly that, as a public agency, they cannot finance any of the costs of a privately owned car-sharing project from general funds.
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From page 168... ...
All of these strategies are discussed in turn below. Car-Sharing Discounts King County Metro in Seattle offers $35 worth of car-sharing use when its FlexPass employer transit pass holders join Flexcar.
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From page 169... ...
Fare Integration Many transit agencies are moving towards smartcard payment technologies, which can provide further opportunities for integrating transit and car-sharing. The same card can serve as a transit pass and as an access card for car-sharing vehicles, providing a tangible symbol of integration as well as convenience benefits.
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From page 170... ...
Another barrier was that since it was a pilot program, users were reluctant to sell a car in case the service did not continue. Memberships Transit agencies usually have non-revenue fleets, which include many pool cars that could be replaced by car-sharing.
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From page 171... ...
King County Metro has experimented with this concept, although with limited success as most of its land holdings take the form of suburban park-and-ride lots that are not wellsuited to car-sharing. At one Redmond site, for example, the car was ultimately withdrawn due to low utilization.
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From page 172... ...
Car-sharing was seen as a strategy to reduce parking demand by helping employees ride transit and boost transit pass sales. More than 15% of respondents to an employee survey stated that access to a car during the day would help them not drive to work.
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From page 173... ...
The company focuses on environmentally sensitive design and is a member of the US Green Building Council. Hence, the reason to join the local car-sharing organization Roaring Fork Valley Vehicles was a combination of a need for vehicles close-by and a desire to support the company's "green" profile.
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From page 174... ...
. At Swedish Medical Center in Seattle, WA Flexcar provides its standard marketing materials and attends the annual employee transportation fair.
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From page 175... ...
Parking Most businesses and employers do not need to provide car-sharing parking since they can use vehicles located nearby. However, Swedish Medical Center in Seattle provides free parking for Flexcar vehicles in its garage in a prime location.
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From page 176... ...
Chapter 5 • the role of partners September 2005 Page 5-42 CMAQ grant to fund the Passport+ program. This allows unlimited use of Flexcar vehicles in the TMA district during business hours, for Passport holders who sign up for car-sharing.
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From page 177... ...
By introducing car-sharing, some developers have been able to reduce the number of parking spaces required by parking ordinances. For instance, the Gaia Building in Berkeley has 91 apartments and 10,000 square feet of commercial space, but only 40 parking spaces.
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From page 178... ...
One criterion is the incorporation of City CarShare into a development. types of Support Parking is the main support provided by developers and property managers.
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From page 179... ...
Parking Most developers and property managers provide free parking for the carsharing vehicles that are placed in their complexes, either because it is an amenity to the residents or because it is part of a development agreement for reduced parking. The vehicles are typically located in spaces with high visibility and access, to encourage non-users and to further promote the concept.
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From page 180... ...
Citizens' Housing and Panoramic Interests (Exhibit 5-25) are two developers in the San Francisco Bay Area that have incorporated car-sharing into their mixed-use developments, in exchange for more flexible parking requirements.
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From page 181... ...
For example, a 250-unit car-free housing development in Vienna, Austria – Autofreie Mutersiedlung Floridsdorf – has only 25 parking spaces, which are exclusively for car-sharing vehicles. Residents have free membership in the car-sharing club for the first year, to which 57% of the households have subscribed.
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From page 182... ...
At the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, the University of Wisconsin at Madison, and Portland State University in Oregon, car-sharing is one of the TDM strategies offered to campus affiliates. The programs include other alternative transportation modes as well, such as free or subsidized transit passes and vanpooling and ridesharing.
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From page 183... ...
As of March 2005, the cost was $14 per hour, slightly less than half the $33 daily fee. City CarShare's rate was $4 per hour, or $2 per hour off-peak.
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From page 184... ...
Most also have an established communications network, such as e-mails to staff, employee newsletters, new student orientations, and websites. This network is utilized to promote car-sharing and other alternative modes.
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From page 185... ...
Efforts will focus on signing up departmental members, using Flexcar as a substitute for pool cars.
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From page 186... ...
The City of Portland has granted Flexcar another six on-street parking spaces within the campus boundaries. Memberships Most universities have pool cars for departments' use.
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From page 187... ...
. Employees who work full time, buy a transit pass, and do not have a campus parking pass are eligible to join the Flexcar program.
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From page 188... ...
Car-sharing alleviates these worries and provides a good complement to transit pass programs. For example, Portland State University's subsidy of car-sharing memberships, described above, goes hand-in-hand with its transit pass program.
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From page 189... ...
Paper presented at the Transportation Research Board 83rd Annual Meeting, Washington, DC, January 11-15, 2004.
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From page 190... ...
Washington, DC: Transportation Research Board. US Green Building Council (2004)
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