On August 24, 2006, Austin CarShare launched its founding membership pre-enrollment at Austin City Hall. Many individuals spoke about how the program works and how it will benefit Austin and the people who use the program.
The program will provide members with 24-hour access to a fleet of cars and trucks on an hourly basis. It will cost $4/hour and $0.44/mile. The price includes gas, insurance, parking and roadside assistance. The Austin CarShare program will only have{mosimage} cars and trucks available in the downtown and university area initially, but hopes to expand operations throughout Austin.
Brandy Clark, board member of the nonprofit, spoke about the various benefits of the program. In other cities where CarShare has been implemented, the number of vehicles in a household has decreased as has distance driven. Clark explained that many more people begin to plan and coordinate their car trips so they’re able to run multiple errands in one trip or use other modes of transportation such as bicycling or public transit systems.
Other benefits include convenience, less congested traffic, cleaner air and money saved on car repairs and payments. The program’s targeted audience will be people who work in one location or want access to special vehicles like trucks, anyone without a reliable car, bicycle commuters and students.
Austin City Council Member Lee Leffingwell spoke about the City’s support of the program. He said the program will help with the City’s goal to encourage more people to move downtown. The goal is to have 25,000 people living downtown in the next 10 years. He also stated that the city can help Austin CarShare by providing reserved parking on city streets for CarShare cars.
Austin CarShare is pre-enrolling now. For more information, please visit www.austincarshare.org.
