Car2GO to launch in Calgary

[suburbia]

Originally Posted by McMurph

The problem in my mind is the extensive use Cars2Go for commuting downtown. There is a huge shift from the periphery to the centre and back each day which creates a diurnal maldistribution that undercuts the convenience of true car sharing and creates in the very least a perception of them undermining transit and downtown parking strategies. Car2Go is a great service and is useful for both its users and the city as a whole, but as a partner in Calgary's transportation system they're going to have to do a better job of evenly distributing their cars. I don't know how it should work -- it'll be tough with our hugely centralized work world -- but I hope they figure it out themselves before something stupid gets regulated for them.

While there are many merits of a single central dense work node, this is an example of the downside. Everyone and everything wants to get to one point at the same time.

Looking forward to more TOD and business hubs outside of the core, to relieve this protracted and worsening problem.

[speedog]

Originally Posted by McMurph

The problem in my mind is the extensive use Cars2Go for commuting downtown. There is a huge shift from the periphery to the centre and back each day which creates a diurnal maldistribution that undercuts the convenience of true car sharing and creates in the very least a perception of them undermining transit and downtown parking strategies. Car2Go is a great service and is useful for both its users and the city as a whole, but as a partner in Calgary's transportation system they're going to have to do a better job of evenly distributing their cars. I don't know how it should work -- it'll be tough with our hugely centralized work world -- but I hope they figure it out themselves before something stupid gets regulated for them.

Maybe the simplest solution to this diurnal problem is for Car2Go to charge a more expensive rate to users that are using Car2Go as a "to downtown and out" commuting alternative. I'm not sure this would cure the problem but it would create some extra cash flow that could allow Car2Go to have more people hired to move the clustered cars in a more responsive fashion - problem is where do you move them to? Possibly a lot on both the downtown's eastern and western edges that would still allow diurnal users to get to a CAr2G0 using the free fare LRT zone?

[Bassic Lab]

Originally Posted by CalgaryAlex

Agree. Every good city provides multiple options for mobility. Walking, biking, transit, car share and private vehicles all serve their purpose at some point.

Also, Car2Go vehicles, purely due to their dimensions, allow far more parking downtown than even a small sedan (as long as users are parking them properly). This is a good thing, as is the increased mobility between the options of walk/bike and taking transit.

As far as I know, the city was impressed with Car2Go in the beginning, now they are listening to loud people only interested in themselves. It's pretty disheartening.

The city's reluctance to allow Uber goes right along with this Car2Go revision. Disappointing, behind-the-times and catering to a small part of the population (in this case, the taxi monopoly) instead of the masses.

How is this a good thing? Parking is expensive because we restrict it. If we wanted more cars to be able to park downtown all we would have to do is allow more parking to be built than the current maximums. We don't because we basically have an indirect congestion pricing scheme maintained through our parking policy.

If a handful of people are able to use Car2Go to circumvent that policy then it isn't fair but it isn't a real problem either. If a lot of people start to do it then it will become a problem very quickly. I would imagine that we are a long way off from Car2Go actually affecting rush hour congestion in a really detrimental way but it takes far less than that to hit a tipping point where the free riders create enough conflict to endanger the social contract that has led to such expensive parking.

The guy in the big truck being decried in this thread is doing his part by paying thirty dollars a day for the privilege of using our roads to enter the core. At present the Car2Go user is not. I don't know if that is because of poor enforcement on the part of the city, Car2Go bleeding money profusely, or, worst of all, the cost of daily parking actually being shared by a dozen people who are all clogging up streets for free.

[Full Mountain]

Originally Posted by hulkrogan

Not where I'm looking. And I've paid attention quite a bit. Between 8-1130 and 130-3pm there is very, very little movement around my building. Maybe we're the exception, I'd be curious to see what their data is.

Wonder if it's the same cars? Since they all are identical it would be difficult to say from casual observation one way or another.

[Ramsayfarian]

I think Car2Go are the ones being unreasonable here and sound whiny and entitled. The City isn't making unreasonable demands, and is actually giving more than what they're taking away.

As mush as I like the program it is taking revenue from the City on two fronts. Street parking revenue and decreased transit ridership. Not to mention an environmental cost as they are gas powered.

Yes the Smart cars take up less space, but most people park like morons and leave too much room between cars.

[speedog]

So is the proposed 25% rules per city block unfair to Car2Go - I don't think so but it appears there's still a lot of whining from the pro-Car2G0 camp over this proposal. A 100 meter block means 25 meters for Car2Go which equates to an easy 7 Car2Go's at 3.5 meters per car. Is that unreasonable?

Heard on the radio this morning that Car2Go said this new ruling, if voted in by council, could mean Car2G0 users might have to walk more than 5 minutes to get a car - is that unreasonable? When I used to work downtown decades ago, often my walk to the bus stop during the winter or to where I parked my motorbike during the summer was more than 5 minutes - is a bit more than a 5 minute walk unreasonable?

[CalgaryAlex]

Originally Posted by speedog

Maybe the simplest solution to this diurnal problem is for Car2Go to charge a more expensive rate to users that are using Car2Go as a "to downtown and out" commuting alternative. I'm not sure this would cure the problem but it would create some extra cash flow that could allow Car2Go to have more people hired to move the clustered cars in a more responsive fashion - problem is where do you move them to? Possibly a lot on both the downtown's eastern and western edges that would still allow diurnal users to get to a CAr2G0 using the free fare LRT zone?

I have to say that this doesn't sound like a bad plan. If you drive a Car2Go and park it downtown, perhaps the per-minute fee could go up 10 cents or something? So you can safely get in the car and pay the current rate, but if you decide to park in the core, it would automatically get calculated with a higher rate.

This could result in more people parking just outside of downtown and walking a bit into the core (or taking transit). Car2Gos would be left mostly in the Beltline or inner-city residential zones. That way, people who don't live in the core and need to use a Car2Go past 8:30am can actually get one and go to wherever they want to go.

I guess I should say that the plan the city put forward isn't that unreasonable and Car2Go should be able to work out a fee system that reflects the change pretty easily. I admit I got a bit worked up here, and I was rather overzealous to a certain extent.

Edit: the 10 cent increase in cost for parking downtown would be a 20% increase in cost, which should cover Car2Go's increased fees from the city

[ByeByeBaby]

For all the talk about free market economics and small business one hears around here, I'm a little baffled as to why the solution to a high demand for a scarce resource isn't to increase the price for that resource. If somewhere is fully parked with a bunch of cars, it's a problem for people who want to park there whether they are Cars2Go or just a bunch of cars parked to stay. The main difference is that the Cars2Go are offering mobility to thousands of people, while the other cars offer it to only one.

In fact, that's city policy already - rates for street parking are being adjusted on a quarterly basis, up if an area has too many cars trying to park there and down if an area's parking is too empty. As of January 1, only one area in downtown was consistently over capacity on weekdays; "Downtown Core 4C" between 7th and the CP, 4th St W and 1st St E. (Area 4D west of there to 8th St is overparked until afternoon, and during the lunch period Chinatown, Eau Claire, Mission and Kensington are also overparked.)

The facts on the ground seem to be that with occasional hot spots, central Calgary currently has priced parking to the point that there is spare capacity. (Of the 27 areas and 5 time periods, 36% have excess capacity, 9% don't have enough, and the remainder are about right.) If we want fewer cars parked on the street, we should keep increasing the prices. I think Car2Go could decide whether or not to pass on the cost to users or not; they are capable of doing so (parking at the airport lot has a hefty charge). It seems odd to suggest that the City should dictate how a business should charge their consumers; certainly there are complaints about it in the taxi sector.

I'm also not sure that passing on the fees is actually the best policy - if Car2Go charged users an extra $2 to park downtown as an example, then the trips that would be least affected would be people commuting to the downtown for a long stay, while people who were just making a quick stop would be more likely to be dissuaded. Yes, the total number of Cars2Go would be reduced, but it would disproportionately be the short-stay users who frequent the businesses complaining about Car2Go in the first place.

[McMurph]

Why put the charge on the parking? C2G knows where you are and when. They could charge a commute fee similar to some cities' congestion fees -- a few bucks for ending a trip in the core btw the hours of 6 and 9 AM for instance. Given the savings that downtown C2G commuters find over driving / parking their own cars or taking transit I'm sure they could charge enough to only partially dent the size of that user group, protect the others and recoup enough money to pay for some staff to redistribute the persistent clot of downtown cars.

[Cage]

Part of the Car2Go solution should also involve Car2Go setting up (e.g. acquiring) a surface parking lot in the core. I'm thinking of the old Imperial HQ or the space behind Petroleum Club. Car2Go could even offer customers a small discount for parking in their lot as employee time and costs would be significantly reduced.

The aviation revenue management geek in me would implement the discount as a surcharge for those who park on the street in the downtown core but leave the old rate for those who park in the specified lot. The fly boys and girls call this a benefit enhancement.

With the explosive growth of Car2Go in Calgary. there needs to be a solution of clustering vehicles. This is the right time to implement a solution before the situation gets completely out of hand.

[McMurph]

Originally Posted by Cage

Part of the Car2Go solution should also involve Car2Go setting up (e.g. acquiring) a surface parking lot in the core. I'm thinking of the old Imperial HQ or the space behind Petroleum Club. Car2Go could even offer customers a small discount for parking in their lot as employee time and costs would be significantly reduced.

The aviation revenue management geek in me would implement the discount as a surcharge for those who park on the street in the downtown core but leave the old rate for those who park in the specified lot. The fly boys and girls call this a benefit enhancement.

With the explosive growth of Car2Go in Calgary. there needs to be a solution of clustering vehicles. This is the right time to implement a solution before the situation gets completely out of hand.

How is a single central lot a solution to clustering?

[Cage]

Originally Posted by McMurph

How is a single central lot a solution to clustering?

Car2Go would own/control the lot outright and therefore could do as they please without infringing on public property.

[Full Mountain]

Originally Posted by ByeByeBaby

For all the talk about free market economics and small business one hears around here, I'm a little baffled as to why the solution to a high demand for a scarce resource isn't to increase the price for that resource. If somewhere is fully parked with a bunch of cars, it's a problem for people who want to park there whether they are Cars2Go or just a bunch of cars parked to stay. The main difference is that the Cars2Go are offering mobility to thousands of people, while the other cars offer it to only one.

In fact, that's city policy already - rates for street parking are being adjusted on a quarterly basis, up if an area has too many cars trying to park there and down if an area's parking is too empty. As of January 1, only one area in downtown was consistently over capacity on weekdays; "Downtown Core 4C" between 7th and the CP, 4th St W and 1st St E. (Area 4D west of there to 8th St is overparked until afternoon, and during the lunch period Chinatown, Eau Claire, Mission and Kensington are also overparked.)

The facts on the ground seem to be that with occasional hot spots, central Calgary currently has priced parking to the point that there is spare capacity. (Of the 27 areas and 5 time periods, 36% have excess capacity, 9% don't have enough, and the remainder are about right.) If we want fewer cars parked on the street, we should keep increasing the prices. I think Car2Go could decide whether or not to pass on the cost to users or not; they are capable of doing so (parking at the airport lot has a hefty charge). It seems odd to suggest that the City should dictate how a business should charge their consumers; certainly there are complaints about it in the taxi sector.

I'm also not sure that passing on the fees is actually the best policy - if Car2Go charged users an extra $2 to park downtown as an example, then the trips that would be least affected would be people commuting to the downtown for a long stay, while people who were just making a quick stop would be more likely to be dissuaded. Yes, the total number of Cars2Go would be reduced, but it would disproportionately be the short-stay users who frequent the businesses complaining about Car2Go in the first place.

Originally Posted by Cage

Part of the Car2Go solution should also involve Car2Go setting up (e.g. acquiring) a surface parking lot in the core. I'm thinking of the old Imperial HQ or the space behind Petroleum Club. Car2Go could even offer customers a small discount for parking in their lot as employee time and costs would be significantly reduced.

The aviation revenue management geek in me would implement the discount as a surcharge for those who park on the street in the downtown core but leave the old rate for those who park in the specified lot. The fly boys and girls call this a benefit enhancement.

With the explosive growth of Car2Go in Calgary. there needs to be a solution of clustering vehicles. This is the right time to implement a solution before the situation gets completely out of hand.

Do we really think that if you took all the Car2Gos off the road there would suddenly be open street parking spaces? Are we really that naive? These spots will be filled by other cars if the C2G are not there. Car2Go is an easy target as is any identifiable group, politicians need to be able to filter this sort of thing.

Car2Go can and likely will pass along any additional cost (parking rate increase, declustering, etc.) to the customer. If they are smart (no pun intended) they'll save themselves (and their customers) some money and implement a software solution that restricts where a car can be parked in real time to prevent the clustering restriction from taking effect.

[Ramsayfarian]

Originally Posted by ByeByeBaby

If somewhere is fully parked with a bunch of cars, it's a problem for people who want to park there whether they are Cars2Go or just a bunch of cars parked to stay. The main difference is that the Cars2Go are offering mobility to thousands of people, while the other cars offer it to only one.

There's a huge difference between someone wanting to park to visit a business or utilize a service, to a car sitting there all day whilst someone is at work.

Yes the Car2Gos over mobility to thousands, but it's only to at the max 2 people at a time. Same if not worse than any other vehicle.

This City is also creating more parking spots at each corner which will be Car2GO only. They're also opening up stalls at Park and Rides for Car2Go. The only thing the City is asking is don't take up a full block. Seems like a fair trade off to me.

[suburbia]

Originally Posted by speedog

So is the proposed 25% rules per city block unfair to Car2Go - I don't think so but it appears there's still a lot of whining from the pro-Car2G0 camp over this proposal. A 100 meter block means 25 meters for Car2Go which equates to an easy 7 Car2Go's at 3.5 meters per car. Is that unreasonable?

Yeah - I think we were all worried about nothing. The proposal is fair and reasonable, and appeases the business owners, which are the key drivers for any successful commercial core.

Time to move on from this topic. The Car2Go extremists, if they persist, should be deported.

[mersar]

Heres some interesting news: Car2go-branded Mercedes spotted in Calgary (CBC Article)


Source: CBC Calgary

[DizzyEdge]

Email from Car2go

Hi Dizzyedge,

While car2go is perfect for Calgary city life, we’ve all had that moment where we could have used a little more space.

That’s why we’re excited to announce that we’ll be adding 25 4-door car2go vehicles to our fleet as part of a car2go pilot program.

These new Mercedes-Benz B-Class vehicles comfortably seat five people, giving you the option – for the first time ever – to bring FOUR friends along for the ride.

New cars, new features


Say goodbye to the days when you’ve fumbled for your member card to start and end trips. Our 4-door vehicles use the latest car2go technology, featuring a streamlined, completely mobile car2go experience. This means that the 4-door vehicles are only accessible via smartphone.

Additionally, the 4-door vehicles include Bluetooth, rear view cameras, GPS navigation, a sun roof and several other accessories. For more info on the new vehicles and our latest technology, visit calgary.car2go.com.

How can I find one?


After opening the official car2go app, you can locate a 4-door vehicle by clicking the “Layers” icon underneath the “Search Address” field. Then, simply select any vehicle with the “4-door” icon from the “Vehicles” list. Here’s what the icon looks like:



How much does it cost?


Whether you’re driving one of the 4-door vehicles or our signature smart fortwos, car2go members will pay the exact same price – just $0.41 per minute + tax – for the duration of the pilot program.

Learn more about our new car2gos, along with step-by-step instructions on the new process for starting and ending a trip, by visiting our website here or watching a quick video here. As always, please contact us with any questions at Calgary@car2go.com or 855.454.1002.

Happy Driving!

Your car2go Calgary Team

[DizzyEdge]

I'm curious how many times someone will take a 4 door car just because they want to drive a nicer car, rather than having multiple passengers or needing the storage.
I actually wonder if increasing the $0.41 a minute to $0.61 would make sense for these cars to discourage that.

[ByeByeBaby]

Originally Posted by DizzyEdge

I'm curious how many times someone will take a 4 door car just because they want to drive a nicer car, rather than having multiple passengers or needing the storage.
I actually wonder if increasing the $0.41 a minute to $0.61 would make sense for these cars to discourage that.

It's a pilot, I'm sure they'll adjust over time. If I'm headed anywhere in the central city, I'd rather park a Smart car sized vehicle any day.

[DizzyEdge]

Originally Posted by ByeByeBaby

It's a pilot, I'm sure they'll adjust over time. If I'm headed anywhere in the central city, I'd rather park a Smart car sized vehicle any day.

That's a good point.