T2.8 Car shares
Work with third party electric or plug in hybrid car share programs to provide residents with an alternative to owning their own vehicles.
In 2013, “Impacts of Carsharing on Passenger Vehicle Use and Greenhouse Gas Emissions” (2013), by researchers at UC Davis and Berkeley, found carsharing produced very significant reductions in emissions. (These were small studies of early adopters in big cities.)
Later research by Susan Shaheen, at Berkeley’s Transportation Sustainability Research Center (2018) found smaller, but still quite significant reductions. (The Shaheen & Martin Car2Go one-way carshare study that’s in the second pair of slides was based on surveys of 10,000 users in five cities & compared with activity data provided by the company…)
Turo (formerly Relay Rides) has some peer to peer car share vehicles available in our area.
Intercity Transit might expand its vanpool program, and develop a neighborhood electric car share on the same model, in which vehicles owned and insured by IT were driven by qualified drivers who weren’t agency employees. Metro is collaborating with PSE on a two year program in which volunteer drivers in the Algona/Pacific area provide rides on request for two to four passengers using all electric Nissan LEAFs. Destinations have to be two hours away or less, and requests for trips within city limits that help fulfill essential travel such as grocery, food bank, and pharmacy runs are prioritized.
Public housing agencies in Sacramento are running a program with Zip Car to provide free EV car sharing at three affordable housing complexes. Two Kia Soul EVs are available at each location for trips of up to three hours. There are similar programs in Massachusetts, the Central Valley, and Los Angeles, supported by Mobility Development.