City CarShare

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

City CarShare is a car sharing non-profit organization in the Bay Area. The service was launched in 2001 by transportation activists and many partners in Oakland, Berkeley and San Francisco. City CarShare has cars available for use 24 hours per day. Members are billed a monthy administration fee and for their use of cars based on time of use and miles driven. Models available include: MINI Cooper Convertible, MINI Cooper, Totota Prius, Toyota Tacoma, Scion xB, Scion xA and Toyota Yaris.

City Carshare now competes with for-profit entities Flexcar and Zipcar.

City CarShare has changed the transportation landscape in the San Francisco Bay Area by working with city governments and local businesses to place cars in neighborhoods. Some local governments and businesses have also begun using City CarShare cars as part of their fleet during the day. City CarShare has also worked with transit agencies to place cars in transit station parking lots, greatly increasing the transportation connectivity in the bay area.

The environmental, community, and economic benefits of City CarShare are many. A long term study of City CarShare members by Robert Cervero, Professor of City and Regional Planning at the University of California, Berkeley, has found that 30 percent of households that join City CarShare sell a car. Even more household members delay purchasing a car. Transit use, bicycling, and walking also increase among members.