Floating Carshare Permits Proposed

[Northern Light]

Coming to the Sept 19 PWIC mtg is a report recommending a 'pilot' of allowing carshare vehicles to 'float'.

http://app.toronto.ca/tmmis/viewAgendaItemHistory.do?item=2017.PW23.8

The program will permit carshare vehicles to park in permit parking areas, and be exempt from the 3-hour parking limit by-law.

The proposal would issue up to 2,000 permits of this class, with a limit of 500 for any one carshare company.

Total game changer for carsharing in Toronto, could grow the industry exponentially.

Of course, first, it has to get past committee and council.

 

[innsertnamehere]

Car2GO already does this and just pays any tickets it gets.

 

[Megaton327]

Car2GO already does this and just pays any tickets it gets.

To be fair, they offered to pay council for permits to do this, and council declined to take their money. We took the scenic route, but ended up right back there again now.

 

[muller877]

Coming to the Sept 19 PWIC mtg is a report recommending a 'pilot' of allowing carshare vehicles to 'float'.

Thought it was the swan boat idea by the title!

It's too bad they want to force competition. Ideally you need a certain number of cars before they become ubiquitous. Is 500 enough spread across all of Toronto so that I will know there is one nearby and do not need a car? Why was this not reviewed as part of the analysis? Should there be 1 or 7 companies? Which is the best to meet their goals?

 

[Northern Light]

Latest kick at this can is back on the April 11 PWIC agenda.

http://app.toronto.ca/tmmis/viewAgendaItemHistory.do?item=2018.PW28.11

 

[Northern Light]

So, this was finally approved by council today.

Several amendments were also passed, the most notable were to reduce the pilot period from 18 months to 12 months, and to allow community councils to withdraw streets from the project starting six months after it begins.

Sigh.

So called progressives making a progressive idea more difficult.

But its going forward effective June 1st.

 

[Northern Light]

Well Council did it.

They talked Car2Go into pulling out of the Toronto market.

*facepalm*

The responsible councillors should be turfed for this nonsense.

Chief Culprit: Mary Fragedakis

Those who voted for her motion to amend:

Maria Augimeri, Ana Bailão, John Campbell, Janet Davis, Glenn De Baeremaeker, Frank Di Giorgio, Sarah Doucette, John Filion, Paula Fletcher, Michael Ford, Mary Fragedakis, Jim Hart, Stephen Holyday, Josh Matlow, Joe Mihevc, Frances Nunziata (Chair), Anthony Perruzza, Jaye Robinson, Lucy Troisi

A whopping 20 councillors and the mayor were absent for the vote.

https://www.blogto.com/city/2018/05/car2go-officially-leaving-toronto/

 

[innsertnamehere]

Apparently Communauto out of Montreal is launching in Toronto this summer.. So it may be able to take the place of Car2GO as the floating carshare of choice for the city.

It's a shame that Car2Go is leaving. I used the service regularly to commute in inclement weather. Cost me $5-7 to drive and took half the time that the TTC did.

 

[muller877]

Well Council did it.

They talked Car2Go into pulling out of the Toronto market.

*facepalm*

https://www.blogto.com/city/2018/05/car2go-officially-leaving-toronto/

It's crazy that they want to charge Cars2Go 8x the price that residents pay for a permit. A car that is used by 4 people a couple of times a week pays $185/yr while a car sharing vehicle used by hundreds has to pay $1500!

A shame. How do these pro-transit anti-car councillors justify their actions? I guess they are only anti-car when it's not their car.

 

[felix123]

Well Council did it.

They talked Car2Go into pulling out of the Toronto market.

*facepalm*

The responsible councillors should be turfed for this nonsense.

Chief Culprit: Mary Fragedakis

Those who voted for her motion to amend:

Maria Augimeri, Ana Bailão, John Campbell, Janet Davis, Glenn De Baeremaeker, Frank Di Giorgio, Sarah Doucette, John Filion, Paula Fletcher, Michael Ford, Mary Fragedakis, Jim Hart, Stephen Holyday, Josh Matlow, Joe Mihevc, Frances Nunziata (Chair), Anthony Perruzza, Jaye Robinson, Lucy Troisi

A whopping 20 councillors and the mayor were absent for the vote.

https://www.blogto.com/city/2018/05/car2go-officially-leaving-toronto/

Some days, I love this city, but today I honestly hate Toronto. Will city council ever stop being populated by losers?

 

[nephersir7]

Apparently Communauto out of Montreal is launching in Toronto this summer. So it may be able to take the place of Car2GO as the floating carshare of choice for the city.

I'm subscribed to both Car2Go and Communauto's Auto-Mobile service in Montreal. Auto-Mobile is much more low-tech than Car2Go (no credit card payments, can't unlock cars from the app), but I find myself using Auto-Mobile more often than Car2go.

They have better pricing options (unlimited monthly pass!), and nice perks like being completely free to use on snow days or if you're moving the car from a low-demand to a high-demand zone. They also found ways to make the service work in parts of the city with less car-sharing friendly regulations so I'm not surprised they're taking advantage of Car2Go leaving Toronto.

 

[innsertnamehere]

oooooh monthly pass has me hooked.

I doubt the pricing will be quite as good as Montreal - but if they have the same sort of pricing structures, even at 50% higher prices, I'm very interested.

 

[felix123]

I'm subscribed to both Car2Go and Communauto's Auto-Mobile service in Montreal. Auto-Mobile is much more low-tech than Car2Go (no credit card payments, can't unlock cars from the app), but I find myself using Auto-Mobile more often than Car2go.

They have better pricing options (unlimited monthly pass!), and nice perks like being completely free to use on snow days or if you're moving the car from a low-demand to a high-demand zone. They also found ways to make the service work in parts of the city with less car-sharing friendly regulations so I'm not surprised they're taking advantage of Car2Go leaving Toronto.

I always remember to pack my OPUS card when I visit Montréal so that I can use Communauto's Auto-Mobile floating carshare. I wonder if they will use PRESTO cards in Toronto.
The other aspect of Communauto/Auto-Mobile coming to Toronto that I don't understand is how they are planning to circumvent the very issue that is causing Car2Go to fold its operations here. Will auto-mobile just park its cars in those Green P lots?

 

[innsertnamehere]

Communauto will likely participate in the Toronto pilot - using the restricted parking zones. I hope that they take advantage of dedicated lots as well, to allow for coverage in the downtown core. Perhaps they can just take over all the old spots that Car2Go is leaving behind.

Even at the 95% full cutoff, the coverage area is still pretty significant. I know there would be few trips that would be blocked for me, if any.

Also, I am really excited by the monthly passes. I spend over $100 a month in the winter months on car2go, a flat $50 would be great. It could effectively replace a ton of TTC trips.

 

[innsertnamehere]

cross posting this here.

An amendment passed council in July improving the floating car share program at the request of the private companies wanting to participate.

The amendment passed 35-5 (surprisingly), with the amended item passing 38-5.

http://app.toronto.ca/tmmis/viewAgendaItemHistory.do?item=2018.CC44.33

Essentially they increased the exclusion area to areas that are at 100% occupancy (vs. the previous 90%), and made it much more difficult and slow for councillors to exclude individual