Car2GO to launch in Calgary

[ByeByeBaby]

Originally Posted by RyLucky

At the Car2Go zone at Sun & Salsa, their spokesperson was also saying Calgary is their fastest-growing market world-wide, and they will soon have 400 cars in Calgary (up from 300). For comparison sake, in 2012 Vancouver had 450 vehicles, and Toronto had 375. Seattle was the only American market to crack 400.

Another thing C2G has been doing lately is offering promotions to local events. For example, showing your card got you free admission to Market Collective last weekend. Showing your card at Sun & Salsa got you a free food-truck meal and free gelato.

I suppose it depends on the time frame you are looking at. For the first year as a whole, Calgary has had a very impressive performance -- although Seattle is new since about New Year's and is growing quickly. Vancouver is the clear winner, with us, Washington DC and Seattle in a close race for second. Denver's barely a month old, so it will grow significantly, although it's already comparable to Miami (where car2go has been for a year). Apparently in Toronto, you are only allowed to park in certain official parking lots, not in residential areas. So that limits the use there pretty significantly.

I expect the massive expansion to the north (along with more cars) will provide a significant boost to car2go use here; there's no reason that Tuxedo Heights won't love the cheap car commute to downtown as much as Killarney does.

Recent performance:

[Deepstar]

Car2Go is a very successful story indeed. I was downtown and in the Beltline on the weekend, and those cars were literally everywhere.

It's never a bad thing to be on par with cities like Seattle, Washington and Vancouver.

[DizzyEdge]

Originally Posted by ByeByeBaby

Apparently in Toronto, you are only allowed to park in certain official parking lots, not in residential areas. So that limits the use there pretty significantly.

The impression I get with Toronto is a lot (most?) residential is permit only overnight, and these are hundreds of blocks of 25 ft or even 20 foot wide buildings, some with 3 suites, and I don't think they're very willing to make exceptions for 400 car2go cars.

[Rusty van Reddick]

Originally Posted by ByeByeBaby

I suppose it depends on the time frame you are looking at. For the first year as a whole, Calgary has had a very impressive performance -- although Seattle is new since about New Year's and is growing quickly. Vancouver is the clear winner.

No, it doesn't depend on time frame- it depends on how you're measuring use, and also the stat is about "growth" which your graph doesn't show at all. It also only shows Vancouver "winning" because it also has far more vehicles than any other city. It doesn't say a thing about growth. It also doesn't say a thing about usage per capita, which Calgary has got to be the "clear winner" for since c2g serves a bigger market in Vancouver.

I don't see how DC even comes into the equation here and again how your graph disputes claims about Calgary's growth in c2g usage.

[Rusty van Reddick]

Originally Posted by Deepstar

Car2Go is a very successful story indeed. I was downtown and in the Beltline on the weekend, and those cars were literally everywhere.

Actually, no, they're not literally everywhere. They're not even figuratively everywhere.

[Bigtime]

Torn on the home area continuing to grow, very hard to ever get one within decent walking distance here in Sunnyside (today for example at 6:30am the closest vehicle to me was on 11th avenue and 1st street NE).

I will lobby yet again for my idea of a subfleet called Car2Go "Core", with a smaller home area that includes only neighbourhoods that "touch" the CBD. I would gladly pay a higher usage fee for a service like this. It will still be far cheaper than a cab and much less hassle.

[RyLucky]

Originally Posted by Rusty van Reddick

No, it doesn't depend on time frame- it depends on how you're measuring use, and also the stat is about "growth" which your graph doesn't show at all. It also only shows Vancouver "winning" because it also has far more vehicles than any other city. It doesn't say a thing about growth. It also doesn't say a thing about usage per capita, which Calgary has got to be the "clear winner" for since c2g serves a bigger market in Vancouver.

I don't see how DC even comes into the equation here and again how your graph disputes claims about Calgary's growth in c2g usage.

It's kind of arbitrary to discuss growth when C2G has only be around for a year or two in most markets. Nonetheless, I was happy to hear their spokesperson describe the success in this market. Again, our quiet, conservative, truck-driving, prairie town has broken the mold, this time by embracing a Smart car sharing program.

I had never heard of Zipcar until you mentioned it, but looking it up now I see it is big in the States. How does it compare to Car2Go?

Perhaps my favourite part about Car2Go, is that I feel as though it came out of nowhere and addresses a big-picture social problem. Had you described to me 3 years ago that Calgary would have such a service (and one so well-implemented), I never would have believed it.

[RyLucky]

Originally Posted by Bigtime

Torn on the home area continuing to grow, very hard to ever get one within decent walking distance here in Sunnyside (today for example at 6:30am the closest vehicle to me was on 11th avenue and 1st street NE).

I will lobby yet again for my idea of a subfleet called Car2Go "Core", with a smaller home area that includes only neighbourhoods that "touch" the CBD. I would gladly pay a higher usage fee for a service like this. It will still be far cheaper than a cab and much less hassle.

I live in Sunnyside too, and I find that Car2Go is a good "plan A", but I always need a plan B. Fortunately, we have many options. Sometimes I'll just update the map every 20 minutes or so and then reserve one when it's close even if it means going a bit earlier than intended. If I really can't get one and I can't bus/train/bike/drive/walk, a taxi does the trick.

Speaking of taxis, there is a new player coming to market this fall. It's interesting how quickly our transportation systems (both public and private) have changed in the past few couple after remaining unchanged for so long: BRT, Google Transit, WLRT, Car2Go, pathway improvements, separated bike lane... and now, FastCab. http://www.calgaryherald.com/news/ca...125/story.html

[RyLucky]

One other thing: Car2Go members now get 10% at foodtrucks!

[simster3]

All food trucks?

[ByeByeBaby]

Originally Posted by Rusty van Reddick

No, it doesn't depend on time frame- it depends on how you're measuring use, and also the stat is about "growth" which your graph doesn't show at all. It also only shows Vancouver "winning" because it also has far more vehicles than any other city. It doesn't say a thing about growth. It also doesn't say a thing about usage per capita, which Calgary has got to be the "clear winner" for since c2g serves a bigger market in Vancouver.

I don't see how DC even comes into the equation here and again how your graph disputes claims about Calgary's growth in c2g usage.

But my graph doesn't show the population of Vancouver, so how are you talking about that? It's almost like there exists knowledge out there beyond what I put together in a graph, and maybe I was using some of that.

Over the past 3 months, Calgary has had flat growth; Toronto, Washington and Seattle have all had faster growth than us in terms of trips made (growing 34%, 12% and 19% respectively). Over the past six months, Toronto and Seattle have had faster growth than us; Calgary made 36% more trips last week than the week ending January 23. Toronto made 62% more trips, and Seattle made 261% more trips. If you go back to when Calgary, Miami and Toronto all had their debut a year ago, it's clear we've grown faster than them. My conclusion would be that it depends on the time frame you're looking at.

Given how upset you get whenever someone suggests Calgary is not the absolute 100% best at all things in all situations, I hope you don't go on any sports forums. Because I have bad news about the Flames and Stampeders.

[RyLucky]

Originally Posted by simster3

All food trucks?

I'm not sure... I think it's only for the yycfoodtrucks:
500 CUCINA, AVATARA PIZZA, BAMBINO, FIASCO GELATO TRUCK, FRIES & DOLLS, JELLY MODERN DOUGHNUTS,MIGHTY SKILLET, THE NAACO TRUCK, THE NOODLE BUS, PEROGY BOYZ, PURPLE PASTRY CHEF, RANCH BBQ, RED WAGON DINER, SHOGUN TEPPANYAKI, STEAKOUT TRUCK, STICKY RICKY'S, SUBS 'N' BUBBLES, VASILI'S, WAFFLES & CHIX

Edit: does not include festivals and special events

[mersar]

Looks like more expansion... there was probably another couple dozen cars sitting in Hyatt's storage lot by Crowchild and 10th last week, all without license plates.

[MasterG]

Originally Posted by mersar

Looks like more expansion... there was probably another couple dozen cars sitting in Hyatt's storage lot by Crowchild and 10th last week, all without license plates.

Have you seen the area change they made? up to 400 cars now (or soon) the area extends all the way to Dalhousie, John Laurie, McKnight to the north. compare that to the 16th ave north when they first started. Quite the success story.

I do not believe there is an upper limit for car2go demand during the morning rush for downtown commuters. essentially 95 - 99 % of car2gos seem to be concerntrated in the CBD (not surprisingly). Interesting dynamic to watch. Other nodes, like University and Beltline are mere sideshows compared to the giant sucking sound of Downtown and the promise of free car2go parking.

[mersar]

Yep. And quite surprisingly I just had a look and while downtown is the concentration (84 it shows in the downtown area), there are quite a number spread fairly evenly around the rest of the home area.

[lubicon]

Originally Posted by mersar

Yep. And quite surprisingly I just had a look and while downtown is the concentration (84 it shows in the downtown area), there are quite a number spread fairly evenly around the rest of the home area.

If your posting time is correct (ie about 3PM) that makes sense. It could be completely different ballgame at 9AM though.

[MasterG]

Originally Posted by lubicon

If your posting time is correct (ie about 3PM) that makes sense. It could be completely different ballgame at 9AM though.

Yeah I counted 274 one time in the CBD around 8am. It is strange that after a few hours a ton of them come out again from the odd person not on a 9-5. By 3pm its often fairly spread out (with the largest concentration still downtown obviously)

[suburbia]

Originally Posted by mersar

Looks like more expansion... there was probably another couple dozen cars sitting in Hyatt's storage lot by Crowchild and 10th last week, all without license plates.

Have they fixed the battery and other issues, or are these extras just in preparation for the fails they now have come to expect over the winter?

Joking aside (yes, that is my way of kidding) great to see that the service is expanding and the number of cars keeps increasing.

[freeweed]

I've probably asked this before, but... how much would it cost for a person to commute to downtown with one of these? Let's say they're coming from around the University or maybe Shaganappi. So clearly the suburbs, but not the extreme ends of the city.

[suburbia]

Originally Posted by freeweed

I've probably asked this before, but... how much would it cost for a person to commute to downtown with one of these? Let's say they're coming from around the University or maybe Shaganappi. So clearly the suburbs, but not the extreme ends of the city.

It doesn't matter how far, rather, it matters how much time. That means a short trip stuck in traffic could be more expensive than a long trip off-peak and along fast roads. There is no single answer for the limited information you've provided in that scenario.