Carsharing in Calgary: Sustainable Options for Getting Around

One of the key benefits of the award-winning imagineCALGARY Plan is its comprehensive scope. True sustainability isn’t limited to one issue or area – it encompasses a full range of community concerns, from social issues to the built and natural environments, transportation, economic issues, food supply, housing and more.

Recent initiatives by groups like imagineCALGARY Partner The Arusha Centre, Calgary researcher Peter Schryvers and Calgary Carshare are showing how strategies like carsharing can have a broad impact on citizens and their quality of life.

For its part, Arusha recently completed its Greater Forest Lawn (GFL) Community Carsharing Initiative, an innovative pilot project funded by the Riddell family through Upstart. The project operated in partnership with the Calgary Learning Village Collaborative, offering a customized version of carsharing designed specifically to meet the needs of residents of the communities of GFL*. “Research has shown that individuals and families in the Greater Forest Lawn area are less likely to participate in social, recreational and community activities, and that one of the key barriers to this participation is inadequate access to flexible, affordable transportation options,” says Project Coordinator Corrine Younie.

Like traditional carsharing operations, members pay a one-time member deposit that gives them access to shared vehicles at hourly and per kilometre rates. The GFL Community Carsharing Project included financial supports, family and group memberships, and featured minivans to meet the needs of families and groups within the community. In addition to supporting access to recreational opportunities and health services, a broader range of healthy food choices and community activities, the project had the additional benefit of helping reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

“Individual and family members described freedom and independence as two of the greatest benefits of belonging to carsharing,” Corrine says. “The service also benefited community organizations that used the cars to access services like the Food Bank.”

Before the GFL Community Carsharing Initiative was completed in 2010, it provided extensive insight into the benefits and challenges of operating carsharing in non-urban, low-income communities. Ultimately, Arusha developed a transition strategy for the program, but was unable to secure funding. Fortunately, many of the ideas and strategies that emerged from the pilot project have been shared with Calgary Carshare, Calgary’s leading carsharing service.

“For our part, Arusha remains committed to carsharing as a means of reducing Calgary’s carbon footprint and addressing poverty and social isolation,” Corrine says. “We will continue to explore and support economically sustainable initiatives that offer affordable transportation alternatives in Greater Forest Lawn and throughout Calgary.”

Peter Schryvers is a graduate student researcher at the Faculty of Environmental Design at The University of Calgary who was partly funded by the Calgary Real Estate Foundation. He has examined the relationship between where people live in a community and how they travel. His work was highlighted at a recent Arusha Centre meeting that showcased the results of the GFL Community Carsharing Initiative, and outlined plans – and challenges – for the future.

In his research, Peter focused on how Calgarians make decisions about housing locations and travel. Interviews with 13 Calgary households helped provide information on daily travel, housing choices and the relationship between these factors.

Peter’s work included a review of transportation options and issues like urban sprawl. “Our review illustrated how broad development patterns have created an urban form in North American that has made private automobile transportation a necessity for many people and which has deteriorated the effectiveness of public transportation in many municipalities,” Peter says. “As a consequence of low density, single-use development patterns, alternative means of transportation have become more difficult and the single occupant vehicle has drastically increased in its share of travel.”

The impact of housing location and travel choices goes far beyond environmental implications. “Automobile dependence creates inequalities for certain groups because of their lack of access to a private vehicle,” Peter says. “Essentially, because spatial development patterns have made the automobile a necessity in many areas, low income households and other groups who encounter difficulties in owning and operating a vehicle face hardship with regards to accessing many areas of the city.”

Peter’s work uncovered many advantages to carsharing, including cost and time savings. “Probably the most unexpected element I uncovered in my research was how households without a car traveled around day-to-day and the interesting strategies they used to deal with the lack of a private vehicle,” Peter says. “Despite living in a very car-dependent city, these households found ways to cope, although they had to be very creative and had to endure extreme hardship to get around.”

In Calgary, carsharing is growing in popularity, particularly with residents of the inner city. Calgary Carshare was established in 1999 by the non-profit Calgary Alternative Transportation Co-operative (CATCO). Today, they have 155 drivers on 122 member accounts (individual, family and nonprofit/corporate) who share a car and save.

“Several of the imagineCALGARY targets mention ‘complete communities’ and increased access/use of transit, biking and walking,” says Tracey Braun of Calgary Carshare. “Carsharing is really the missing piece of the sustainable transportation puzzle -- if people can walk, bike and take transit for most of their trips, they might only need a vehicle once in a while. If people can share a vehicle instead of owning one, that means less private vehicles on the road, a reduction in infrastructure costs for the city and in transportation costs for the user, a healthier environment and a safer road system for everyone.”

Calgary Carshare members get 24-hour, self-serve access to a fleet of vehicles located near major LRT or bus routes, and city pathways. Members pay $5 per month to access the vehicles as well as hourly and per kilometre fees for what they drive. Fees cover vehicle maintenance, insurance and fuel but are low compared to the costs of owning a vehicle privately. There are seven vehicles available through Calgary Carshare – including a Toyota Prius Hybrid and a minivan – located in:

•	Bridgeland
•	Connaught
•	Hillhurst
•	Mission
•	Sunnyside
•	Victoria Park
•	University of Calgary

While carsharing has become a more popular option in many North American cities, Calgary still has a way to go. “Many of the cities like Vancouver that have large carsharing programs have better transit/bike systems and a higher density,” Tracey says. “In the areas where these conditions appear in Calgary, places like Hillhurst-Sunnyside, we are fairly successful.” Calgary Carshare is looking to expand into new communities, like Inglewood, where the demand for such a service is created as people change their transportation habits.

For Peter, the relationships between housing and transportation are closely linked – and together provide significant implications for sustainability. “I believe the key to providing sustainable housing and transportation choices really involves understanding that the two are intimately connected,” he says. “A cheaper house in an area with poor connections to public transportation can create a situation of high transportation costs, and in many cases, those transportation costs can actually outweigh the savings on the house. We need to change our way of thinking of affordable housing or affordable transportation to affordable lifestyles, which includes the costs of both housing and transportation. That means we need to provide quality public transit systems not only as a traffic mitigation measure, but as an economic tool to reduce the transportation costs for families. Until we understand that housing and transportation costs are connected, we will be pursing counter-productive strategies.”

*Greater Forest Lawn is comprised of the communities east of Deerfoot Trail, north of Peigan Trail SE and south of 16th Avenue NE.