City Makes Space for Zipcars on Public Streets
Zipcar parked at Gramercy Park in NYC in 2006. Photo: NannyinNY/FlickrFor car-sharing to every truly work, the cars used in the program need to be easily accessible to the members who have access to rent them. To that end, the City Council has cleared out 10 parking spaces near USC and UCLA to pilot the return of Zipcars to the streets of Los Angeles.
Longtime Streetsblog readers will remember that Los Angeles used to be served by Flexcar, the only national competition that Zipcar faced. But, after the two car-share giants merged just over a year ago instead of more service, Zipcar shrank local car sharing back inside the college campuses of USC and UCLA leaving many subscribers high and dry. Now, to their credit, the city is working with Zipcar to try and slowly bring the service back. If the service in and around the two college campuses is successful, the Council promises an expanded program for Hollywood, the Downtown and Venice.
While the Council deserves credit for promoting alternative transportation at the expense of public parking, this is just a baby step to getting a city-wide car sharing program. If the city wants to live up to its rhetoric on the importance of car sharing, it could always embrace the Philadelphia model, where they cut their take-home program for city employees and use the money to embrace in a car-sharing program that could be used for both city employees and residents.
For a full copy of the press from Councilman Bill Rosendahl release announcing the program, read on after the jump.
CITY COUNCIL, ZIPCAR PARTNER ON CAR SHARE PROGRAM
Pilot Program Expected to Relieve Traffic and Help the Environment
LOS ANGELES – The Los Angeles City Council gave the “green-light” today on a car share pilot program ready to launch this summer in neighborhoods near Los Angeles’ two largest universities.
Zipcar, the world’s leading car sharing company, will partner with the City to provide access to vehicles by the hour or the day in highly populated areas near UCLA and USC. The Department of Transportation has identified 10 parking spots in each of the neighborhoods for the exclusive use of the car sharing vehicles.
“We must constantly seek out innovative ways to empower our residents with more transportation choices,” said Councilmember Bill Rosendahl, who championed the program through the Council’s Transportation Committee. “Car sharing has been proven to reduce traffic congestion and vehicle emissions, increase transit ridership, and save users money compared to owning and operating private vehicles.”
The program is designed to give residents an alternative to owning their own cars and the related costs of parking, insurance, depreciation, fuel, and maintenance, which add up to $8,000 per year for the average driver. For car sharing users, all of these costs are wrapped up in a flat hourly rate starting at $8 per hour, and users only pay for the time that they are driving around.
"Car sharing programs provide Los Angeles residents with another real alternative to owning a car and will help reduce traffic and air pollution. It's a great opportunity for people who live in areas where shops, work, school, and home are within walking distance and a car isn't always needed," said Council President Eric Garcetti.
The City will allow Zipcar to use the on street parking spaces free of charge for the one year pilot program to help demonstrate the potential of car sharing in Los Angeles. Spaces without parking meters were selected to avoid any loss of revenue to the City. The City selected neighborhoods near UCLA and USC to build on the successful partnerships that those universities have already developed with Zipcar.
Councilmember Bernard Parks is proud to bring this program to his constituents in University Park: "It is a great pilot program because the area is parking poor,” said Parks. “Car sharing will offer more flexibility to the students and residents in and around USC."Prospective car sharing users sign up online at www.zipcar.com to enroll in the program and receive a free membership card. Members can make reservations online or on the phone from 10 minutes to a year in advance. To begin the reservation, the user waves the membership card over a sensor inside the windshield to unlock the vehicle. The ignition keys are stored in the glove box. At the end of a trip, the user returns the car to the home space, waves the membership card over the sensor, and the trip is complete.
"The City’s partnership with Zipcar is an innovative way to reduce our carbon footprint as well as the number of cars on the road, especially in the congested areas around UCLA. Zipcars will help reduce emissions, trips to the pump, and traffic congestion," said Councilmember Jack Weiss whose district includes UCLA.
Zipcar members report an average monthly savings of over $500 compared to car ownership. Car share programs are good for the planet and the wallet. National studies have shown that a car share vehicle removes 15 privately owned vehicles from the roads, greatly reducing each driver’s impact on the environment. Many of the car share vehicles in this pilot program will be hybrids.
Upon the successful completion of the pilot program, the City will consider expanding car sharing to other suitable areas including Venice, Hollywood, Downtown and other neighborhoods.
