Car2Go's focus on downtown driving has some members reconsidering commute
CBC News | Posted: September 2, 2015 2:57 PM | Last Updated: September 3, 2015
There is car trouble of a different kind for users of car-share service outside new coverage area
Changes to Calgary's Car2Go coverage area are not getting a smooth ride with customers on the outskirts of the city.
People who live or work in places just beyond the core, such as Bowness in the city's northwest, say they won't be able to drive the cars and leave them without paying a price.
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"If I leave it at Bowness, because it's not the home area, I can't sign out of it, so that means if I use it for three hours — well, I'm paying all the time," said Ian Parsneau.
He lives in Marda Loop, which will remain part of Car2Go's service area in southwest Calgary, but works in Bowness.
He became a Car2Go member because he could leave the vehicle in his work neighbourhood, he says. Parsneau did a double-take when he saw the new map.
"I could have sworn that there was a little horn in that home area where Bowness was and I was thinking, 'Well, it's not there anymore and then they showed the old one where there was Bowness,'" he said.
"That's when, kind of, the truth hit me."
The new reality for Parsneau and other users of the Texas-based car-sharing service begins Sept. 28 when the Car2Go service area will shrink from to 114- to 73-square kilometres.
The smaller service area covers the parts of the city where 96 per cent of Car2Go trips are taken and 92 per cent of its members live — effectively cutting service to eight per cent of its customers.
"We'll be bringing down the border, from the north from John Laurie down to Northmount Drive. In the west we're going to bring it in so that it goes into Montgomery and then in the southwest corner it's just going to be Glenmore Trail ... going to be the bottom there." said Jon Wycoco, general manager of Car2Go.
"It's extremely annoying," said Boris Henriquez, a frequent user of the service throughout the city.
"I seriously doubt people said, 'Cut the home area,'... I would say, just get more cars. It seems like you can make quite a significant amount of money just getting more of them."
The company is basing the move on complaints of car shortages in the downtown core where a majority of users live, according to Wycoco.
"We believe that this change will help ensure our vehicles are in constant circulation in these areas including the core, so it will allow more vehicle availability for our members to utilise these vehicles as well," said Wycoco.
As the city grows, he says Car2Go — which has been in Calgary since 2012 — is open to re-expanding the service area.