Vancouver gets a gold medal in car sharing
Posted August 2, 2012 8:51 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) – Car-sharing is taking off here on the West Coast and it seems no city in the Pacific Northwest has embraced it more than Vancouver.
A study done by the Sightline Institute puts us in the forefront when it comes to embracing the “car-lite” lifestyle. The Seattle-based think tank gave us the gold in its Northwest Car-Sharing Olympics, while Portland received the silver and Seattle the bronze.
“In Vancouver, car sharing consumers have a lot more options,” explains Research Director Clark Williams-Derry.
“What you really want to see in a good car-sharing city is lots of cars available for short-term rentals, low prices, good geographic coverage, and lots of different kinds of rental options so people have choices. On those criteria, we felt like Vancouver came out ahead.”
Seattle took the bronze because it only has one car-sharing company doing business in town; Vancouver has three: ZipCar, Car2Go, and Modo Co-Op.
Williams-Derry points out our three car-sharing companies also offer better geographic coverage than Portland and Seattle. However, there is one area that needs work.
“One thing that Portland has that Vancouver doesn’t have right now is peer-to-peer car-sharing. That’s basically where ordinary people can just rent out their cars to other people,” notes Williams-Derry.
He warns if Vancouver doesn’t embrace this facet of car-sharing, it risks losing its gold medal.
