by Rick Morrell
THE SASQUATCH
Posted on February 11, 2010

Of the greenhouse gas contributions urban people make directly, about half are related to transportation. The Regina Car Share Co-operative, an initiative formed in 2007, wants to help change that. After a shaky start, the co-operative is now up and running and aiming to cut Regina’s CO2 emissions and improve the city’s transport sustainability.

Regina Car Share starts its engines (slowly)

The decision to start a Regina car share co-op emerged in 2007 when co-founders Malin Hansen and Shawn Fraser were discussing how neither owned nor wanted to own a car, but occasionally needed to use one.

They obtained an ecoAction grant from the federal government that supplied funding for office space and a staff person, but not for a car. In 2009, with the administrative funds dwindling, the organization chose to give up the office and not replace the staff person.

After looking high and low for suitable sponsors or grants, the co-operative still lacked funds to buy a vehicle. “We had no momentum, we were almost out of money, and we were just really demoralized,” said Jennipher Karst, one of the co-operative’s five volunteer board members.

Building momentum

Then, the board’s president, John Klein, eager to have access to a vehicle and determined to see the co-operative take off, decided to purchase a car himself and lease it to the co-operative. With a car in place, the co-op began to garner interest from the community.

Sage, a property development planned for Harbour Landing, offered to buy another car for Regina Car Share with the provision that all residents of their new condo development would be members of the car share via a Sage corporate membership.

Next, a local club offered to buy a minivan with a wheel chair lift so the co-operative could provide another, more independent transport option for people who use wheelchairs.

Then, the federal government’s Co-operative Development Initiative provided a $16,250 grant for marketing and education. Regina Car Share plans to use this funding to promote the co-operative and increase their membership to make the project financially viable in the long term.

“Finally,” said Klein, “it feels like things are lining up for us.”

Sharing takes off

Regina joins around 1, 000 cities worldwide that have car share programs, with the first one on record starting in 1948 in Zurich, Switzerland. The development of car shares increased in the 1970s, with the concept taking off in the 1990s.

The co-op members co-own and operate a fleet of cars that are often more efficient vehicles than they could otherwise afford. In a study of other car shares, 30 per cent of households who joined gave up a personal car, and many members showed increased use of public transit, bicycles and walking.

Application fee: $25

Refundable membership share: $500

Per hour: $3

Per kilometre: 15 cents (for frequent user) to 45 cents

Approximate cost to own and operate your own car: 68 cents per kilometre or $8,000 per year (actual figures of a 2008 Cobalt LT driving 12,000 kilometres per year)

For more information on Regina Car Share, call John Klein at 306-757-4139 or visit them online